WINTON – One charge lodged against a local nightclub owner has been dropped from last weekend’s “Operation Lock Down.”

Hertford County Sheriff Dexter Hayes initially reported that Joseph Askew, owner of the LTD Club, was charged with not labeling bottles correctly, lack of cleanliness at the business, and allowing criminal violations to occur on the premises.

On Thursday, Askew visited the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, saying he was not cited for allowing criminal violations to occur on the premises of his establishment, located on US 13 between Ahoskie and Winton.

Yesterday (Friday), Sheriff Hayes contacted the News-Herald to clarify the arrest report, a copy of which his office forwarded to this newspaper on Tuesday.

“The owner of the LTD Club was not charged with allowing a criminal violation to occur on the premises of his place of business,” Hayes said. “What occurred during that portion of the operation was when we, joined by ALE (Alcohol Law Enforcement) agents, paid a visit to the LTD Club on Saturday night to ensure everything was in compliance with ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) regulations, one of the officers observed an individual smoking marijuana in the parking lot of the nightclub.”

Hayes stated that individual was arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana.

“The person charged was outside the nightclub; therefore Mr. Askew had no knowledge of what was taking place,” the Sheriff added. “The charge was inadvertently recorded as part of the ABC citations against the LTD Club owner. That charge has now been dropped against the owner.”

The other two citations against Askew still stand – not labeling bottles correctly, and lack of cleanliness.

Askew told the News-Herald that he is working to correct the problems that led to those two citations. He said the cleanliness citation was for failing to remove empty bottles in a timely manner from tables inside the nightclub.    

Operation Lock Down involved eight local/state law enforcement agencies and resulted in multiple drug arrests and citations issued in Hertford County during the weekend of Dec. 8-9.