COLERAIN – Help from local citizens has led to a drug arrest.

Bertie County Sheriff John Holley said a group of people in the Colerain area had expressed their concern about the possibility of a man residing on Quebec Road selling illegal drugs.

Based on that and other evidence, Bertie County Sheriff’s Detective Kenny Gilliam obtained a warrant to search the home of Marvin Watford.

After serving the warrant, Gilliam and Deputy Blake Mizelle charged Watford with nine felony counts. He was charged with felony possession of cocaine, felony possession of marijuana, felony possession of drug paraphernalia and six felony counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Among the items confiscated by the sheriff’s office were 645.5 grams (nearly 1.4 pounds) of marijuana, two 12-guage shotguns, two rifles, a pistol and another shotgun.

Watford was placed in the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail under a $100,000 secured bond.

Sheriff Holley said the arrest was part of an on-going operation by his department to target drug dealers in Bertie County and remove them from the streets.

“One of my main targets is that we’ll be very hard against drug dealers,” Sheriff Holley said. “I want to send a message that it will not be tolerated.”