SALISBURY — A man was arrested in Rowan County on Monday in an operation which the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said targeted a “suspected trafficking-level offender.”
Clarence William West was arrested on Monday after the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Vice/Narcotics Unit executed two search warrants targeting him along with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Lexington Police Department, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and the Thomasville Police Department, according to a release from the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.
During the execution of the warrants, deputies seized approximately 19.6 kilograms of cocaine, $20,940 in U.S. currency and three firearms, according to the release. The sheriff’s office estimated that the narcotics had a street value of approximately $350,000.
West has been charged with two counts of trafficking cocaine, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling for controlled substances, money laundering, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.
During the investigation, detectives also arrested Monica Lynnet Sanders for her involvement in drug trafficking, according to the release. Sanders was charged with two counts of trafficking cocaine, maintaining a dwelling or vehicle for controlled substances, money laundering and conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
West and Sanders each received a secured bond of $1,000,000.
“This investigation and subsequent arrest represent a coordinated effort to disrupt large-scale narcotics trafficking operations affecting Rowan County and surrounding areas,” wrote the sheriff’s office in the release.
West has a history surrounding the sale of drugs, according to former Salisbury Post articles.
West was charged with selling nearly 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of crack cocaine, worth at the time an estimated $1 million, in early 1996. West was regarded at that time as one of the “top crack dealers” in the city, according to a Post article.
In 2013, West was dubbed a “Godfather of Drugs” when he was charged with possessing firearms against the terms of his federally supervised release. He was later arrested in 2017 and charged with felony possession of a schedule VI controlled substance after deputies reportedly found over five pounds of marijuana in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
