AHOSKIE – Months of surveillance work, to include undercover drug purchases, landed a Gates County man behind bars here Thursday.

Ellic Cobb Sharpe Jr., 36, was arrested by the Hertford County Sheriff’s office after a significant amount of cocaine, a handgun and in excess of $1,000 in cash was found in a room he occupied at the Chief Motel, located on Academy Street.

Sharpe was charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, two felony counts of maintaining a dwelling/vehicle to store a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed under a $60,000 secured bond and made his first appearance on Friday in Hertford County District Court.

“We have been investigating this case undercover for several months, to include making drug purchases from this individual,” said Hertford County Sheriff Juan Vaughan. “We also made individual arrests of those making purchases from Mr. Sharpe after they left his motel room.”

Vaughan said the investigative work led officers to obtain a search warrant for Sharpe’s motel room and vehicle. That search warrant was executed Thursday afternoon by HCSO Investigators Greg Harrison and Dexter Hayes.

“The search turned up $205 in cash in Mr. Sharpe’s pants pocket as well as another $840 in cash found in a nightstand beside the bed,” Vaughan stated. “As far as the drugs were concerned, the search turned up a plastic bag containing six individual bags of cocaine located in a cookie tin on the dresser inside the room. A search of his vehicle in the motel’s parking lot turned up a plastic baggie containing seven individual bags of cocaine. That was found in the glove compartment of the vehicle.”

Also discovered was a 9 millimeter KAHR pistol in the room’s nightstand along with as box of 9 millimeter ammunition.

Assisting in the case were HCSO Investigator Brian Pearce and Captain Will Liverman; Sgt. Duane Outlaw, Detective Matt Roebuck and Detective Martin Phelps, all of the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office, and Lt. Jeremy Roberts of the Ahoskie Police Department.

“I would like to thank the other agencies for their assistance in this well as well as saying I’m proud of the efforts of my staff as we all work towards a common goal of slowing down the sell of illegal drugs in Hertford County,” Vaughan said.

Sharpe’s criminal record shows that he served five months in prison for eight felony counts of breaking-and-entering into vehicles in Gates County in 1993.