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Moonshiner's charge dismissed in plea deal, still seized
By John ThompsonElizabethton Bureau Chief
jthompson@johnsoncitypress.comELIZABETHTON — A charge of possession of a moonshine still was dropped against a Buck Mountain man this week in Criminal Court in exchange for a guilty plea on drug charges.
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Email ArticleBillie Gene Arnett, 31, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for resale on Tuesday. He was sentenced to one year’s unsupervised probation and fined $2,000 and court costs.
In addition to the dropping of the possession of a still charge, the state also agreed to drop a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. As part of the plea agreement, Arnett forfeited the 50-gallon still, the three 55-gallon drums and copper tubing. There were also hundreds of Mason jars seized during the execution of a search warrant on Jan. 17.
“We got him to plead on the most serious charge,” Assistant District Attorney Ken Baldwin said. “It was the only felony charge. The other two are misdemeanors.”
Baldwin said he was also encouraged to accept the plea agreement because Judge Lynn Brown expressed some concerns with the way the still had been discovered and seized.
Baldwin said the discovery of the still was made during a fire in Arnett’s mobile home at 1066 Buck Mountain Road, Roan Mountain. Deputy Brian Durham came to the fire scene as part of his normal procedures, but merely stood by the fire trucks and did not come on Arnett’s property.
The situation changed when a firefighter told Durham there was something he ought to see, Baldwin said. When Durham followed the firefighter, he saw something suspicious in the area where the mobile home’s furnace should be located.
A search warrant was issued and the still was found in the compartment for the furnace.
When Brown expressed some concern about the search warrant, Baldwin said he was worried about the other items found during the search, such as the four pounds of marijuana that were not burned in the fire. He said that evidence could also be contaminated by the “fruit of the poisoned tree” defense.
While prosecution of moonshine still owners was once a part of Criminal Court activity in Carter County, Baldwin said times have changed. He said this was the first case involving a still he has handled in his career.