Two arrested in shot house bust Wednesday night (with photos and video)
Published 8:42 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Law enforcement officers arrested a man Wednesday night for the fifth time in connection with illegal alcohol sales.
Charles Williams was taken into custody shortly after officers raided his “shot house” about 6 p.m. Leroy Grubbs was also arrested. Both men were charged with selling alcohol without a license.
The night started at a location away from the illegal operation where members of the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, Troy Police Department, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and the Department of Corrections K-9 Unit gathered to prepare for the raid.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE.
Once on the shot house at 6043 Hwy 87, law officers found several people on the front porch and one person ran away from the back of the home.
“If I’d had my tennis shoes on, I’d have gotten him,” Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas said.
Lt. Thomas Price with the ABC Board said officers recovered four to five cases of beer, a small amount of hard liquor and evidence of marijuana use.
A little over a month ago, lawmen confiscated 147 12-ounce beers and five bottles of liquor at Williams’ operation.
And this isn’t the first location Williams had set up shop. He was previously arrested for selling alcohol without a license inside the city limits of Troy at his illegal establishment known as the “Obama Club.”
“He has proceeded from the city to the county,” Price said. “We are trying to keep him down and trying to put him in jail.”
Thomas said he plans to meet with the District Attorney’s Office Thursday in hopes of having Williams’ bond revoked.
“When you get an unlicensed place like this, it creates a climate for violence and injuries and we’ve seen that in the past,” Thomas said.
Thomas said there were also pool tables set up inside the home for profit and money on the table where dominos were being played before the raid.
Price said the allure of running a shot house such as the one Williams was heading up is untaxed profit.
“It’s cash money. They don’t pay any taxes. So everything that comes in they don’t report it,” Price said.
Thomas echoed that statement, adding that the alcohol on the property was purchased at a cheap price and sold in shot glasses, or at about $2 or $2.50 a beer.
Another concern, especially at this location right on Hwy. 87 is the potential for automobile accidents.
“There is a lot of possibility for things to go wrong and it’s our responsibility to make sure they go right,” Thomas said.