Probe links drugs, guns, homicides
Suspect sought; four others charged
By Chip Womick
Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune
ASHEBORO - Four people were behind bars Friday night - and authorities
were looking for a fifth, who is considered armed and dangerous - in a convoluted
case with alleged ties to weapons, illegal drugs, stolen prescription drugs,
attempted murder, possibly homemade explosives and Tuesday's double homicide
near Randleman.
Officers were searching for William Roy Davis, 20, of 134 Presnell St.,
Asheboro. Davis was released from the Randolph County Jail Friday morning
under $50,000 secured bond after being charged with aiding and abetting
attempted murder in connection with a May 29, 2004, machete attack on a
woman on N.C. 134.
According to Randolph County Sheriff Litchard Hurley, Davis' house was
under surveillance later in the day when undercover officers watched as
several people went in and out of the house, hurriedly packing items into
three vehicles, and then left the residence.
The officers stopped two of the vehicles about five blocks away and the
third one a little more than a mile away. During an initial search of the
two vehicles stopped on the portion of Meadowbrook Road between Presnell
and Pritchard streets, officers found firearms and what they thought could
possibly be explosive devices. They also found a briefcase full of the prescription
narcotic OxyContin, Hurley said.
The street was blocked and area residents evacuated while members of
the Greensboro Police Department's Hazardous Devices Team were called in
to examine the vehicles. Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms (ATF) also assisted in the investigation.
On Friday evening, Presnell Street was barricaded several hundred feet
on either side of Davis' West Presnell Street residence while the Greensboro
bomb squad members took a closer look at the house, particularly a suspicious
briefcase found inside.
Sheriff Hurley said late Friday that he did not know whether the bomb
squad had found any explosive devices in the vehicles or in the house. ATF
agents had taken several devices that looked like smoke bombs or grenades
to the Randolph County landfill late Friday, Hurley said, to determine if
they were explosives.
The sheriff said that officers did find an extensive indoor marijuana
growing operation in the Presnell Street residence and an officer on the
scene told him that "he'd never seen anything like it."
Hurley also said Friday night that the investigation is still young and
that he expects more charges, and perhaps more arrests, before it is over.
"We're going to have some serious charges on them," Hurley
said, "once we figure out who was in what car but it's going to take
a while ...
"I think this is just the tip of the iceberg ... I'd say it's one
of the biggest things we've had come together in a long, long time ...
"It's a ring - a bunch of young people that has no value for life,
that will shoot you, will kick your door in, they'll break into drug stores
and steal drugs and sell them to kids with no concern, they'll run a grow
operation and sell that to kids."
Jailed Friday night were Davis' wife, Kimberly Marie Davis, 21, 134 W.
Presnell St., Asheboro; Matthew Bascom Barker, 17, 1477 Randolph Tabernacle
Road, Asheboro; John McKinley Beeson, 19, 1388 Steed Road, Randleman; and
Jeffrey Nicholas Hill, 20, 107 Kersey Drive, Archdale.
Kimberly Davis was charged with manufacturing marijuana, misdemeanor
possession of marijuana and felony maintaining a vehicle/dwelling place
for a controlled substance; Barker was charged with felony manufacturing
marijuana, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession
of a firearm by a minor; Beeson was charged with felony manufacturing marijuana
and misdemeanor possession of marijuana; and Hill was charged with felony
manufacturing marijuana and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Officers stopped a car that fled Davis' Presnell Street home near Gold
Hill Road. When it was searched, Hurley said, officers found a trunk full
of prescription drugs, many of them stolen from Randleman Drug on West Academy
Street. The drugs, tagged and packaged in plastic bags by deputies at the
Randolph County Sheriff's Office, covered the tops of five 8-foot long tables.
Also found in the car were marijuana seedlings, a blown-glass bong for smoking
drugs, and an ax with what looked like blood on it.
"We'll send it off to get it tested," Hurley said. "They
bragged about it one time, chopping a man's dog up that owed them some money."
Hurley said authorities have information that ties William Roy Davis
to the home invasion and shooting deaths of two teen-agers in a residence
on Adams Farm Road, north of Randleman, at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
"This guy was the one that sold the weapons to the two suspects
in the double homicide," Hurley said.
Officers recovered three weapons at or near the scene of the shootings
on Tuesday - a handgun, an SKS short rifle and an AK-47 assault rifle. The
two long guns were allegedly purchased from Davis, officers said.
Casey James Dinoff, 19, of 6975 Adams Farm Road, Randleman, and Christopher
Cameron Voncannon, 18, 7052 U.S. 64 West, Asheboro, were pronounced dead
at the scene of the shootings. Investigators say two men forced their way
into the home by kicking open the door and killed Dinoff and Voncannon.
Charged with first degree murder, first degree burglary and robbery with
a dangerous weapon in connection with the homicides were George Thomas Wilkerson,
23, 446-B Mt. Cross St., Asheboro, and Logan Austin Malanowski, 21, 1012
Shamrock Road, Asheboro.
Hurley said Wednesday that an altercation that led to the shootings may
have started over $30. On Friday night, he amended his statement.
"It involved drugs," he said. "It was over $30 worth of
drugs."
Hurley characterized Wilkerson and William Davis as the "ringleaders"
of the group.
Davis, who had been released on bail Friday morning, had also been jailed
Thursday night on a variety of charges, Hurley said. Jail records show that
Davis was released under a $3,000 bond on charges of carrying a concealed
weapon, expired/no inspection sticker, failure to wear seat belt and a window
tinting violation.
"He's a tough character," Hurley said. "Hopefully when
we get him again we'll keep him. There was a truck burnt up several months
ago - he's probably going to be charged with that.
"It goes on and on."
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of William Roy Davis is
asked to call the Randolph County Sheriff's Office at 318-6699 or Randolph
County Crimestoppers at 1-800-672-2530.
Copyright 2002, Stephens Media Group
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