Police seize about 100 gallons of 'shine

Cherokee County Sheriff's Office investigators didn't need directions to a Kings Creek home on Wednesday because they had been there before.

For a second time since 2005, investigators allege they have shut down an illegal liquor distillery in a barn behind the 159 Billy Misty Road home of Charles Edward Martin.

After executing a search warrant Wednesday, investigators destroyed a still and about 90 gallons of white liquor.

Sheriff Bill Blanton said Martin was not home Wednesday when the warrant was executed and that Martin was expected to turn himself in Thursday.

Blanton couldn't say how much liquor had been produced in the barn but noted, "We got (almost) 100 gallons." Such an amount, he said, could not have been for personal use.

Investigators had previously raided Martin's property July 20, 2005, when they destroyed a distillery inside the barn and seized 213 gallon jugs of white liquor.

According to Cherokee County court records, Martin, 67, pleaded guilty on March 9, 2006 to charges of unlawful manufacturing or possession of liquor and unlawful possession of a still. He was sentenced to a suspended six-month prison term and fined $600. Court records indicate he also forfeited $2,857 seized by investigators.

Blanton said finding distilleries is fairly uncommon today.

"We might destroy one every three or four years," he said.