Murphy, NC— Sheriff Derrick Palmer announced the November 19^th, 2015 arrest of Charles Richard Koogler Jr, a 46 year old Murphy North Carolina on charges stemming from a marijuana grow operation located at a residence on Maple Lane, Murphy North Carolina.

On November 19^th, 2015 Deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported domestic dispute involving Koogler and another family member. While responding to the residence Koogler was found to be in possession of recently harvested marijuana which was packed in the pickup truck that he was leaving the residence in.

Investigators conducted a search of the residence and collected several items of evidence that were used to grow and harvest marijuana along with additional marijuana. All the items were collected and retained as evidence.

Koogler was taken to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office where he was charged with

Trafficking in Marijuana, Maintaining a Dwelling for the Manufacture of Controlled Substances (2 Counts), Manufacture of Schedule VI Controlled Substances and Assault on a Female. Koogler is currently being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center on a $51,000.00 secure bond. Koogler is expected in Cherokee County District Court on December 01, 2015.

Sheriff Palmer stated “Again, I want to compliment the members of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on their team work in this arrest. This was a very sophisticated operation and evidently Koogler was pretty prolific at it considering the size of the seizure we can easily say that we confiscated over $150,000.00 worth of illegal drugs that won’t make it to the streets. As we continue to investigate this case we are anticipating additional arrests.”

Sheriff Palmer encourages any one that has information on this crime or any other to report it. To report crime in Cherokee County you can call the anonymous tip line at 828-837-1344 or email a tip at [email protected] or call 911 if you observe a crime in progress.