An Eastern Burke County man now faces numerous drug-related charges after a two-month long investigation.

A news release says Burke County sheriff’s office detectives received complaints of drug activity at the home of 48-year-old Kenneth Wayne Setzer at 414 Carolina Avenue Hickory last August.

Detectives monitored the residence for several weeks and identified Setzer as a suspect in possessing and selling illegal controlled substances.

After developing probable cause, detectives obtained a search warrant for Setzer’s home and executed it on Wednesday.

Officers reported located Setzer and seized multiple controlled substances.

He was arrested and placed in the Burke Catawba District Confinement facility under an 85-thousand dollar secured bond.

Setzer’s court date is today.

The K-9 unit with the state department of Public Safety assisted detectives in the case.

Meanwhile, criminal investigators with Burke Sheriff’s narcotics division find more drugs at the home of a Drexel man after suspected drug activity.

Reports state detectives id’ed 51-year-old Joey Anderson Stamey of 1227 Drexel Road as a suspect of illegal sales and possession of controlled substances.

A search of his residence turned up marijuana growing on the property, meth, and several items of drug paraphernalia.

Stamey was arrested and charged with multiple drug offenses – 4 felonies and 2 misdemeanors.

He received a 20-thousand-500 dollar secured bond and was held at the Burke Catawba confinement facility.

Stamey’s court date is today.

A Burke County man is arrested for the ninth time for indecent exposure – this time, reports say, exposing himself to a census worker.

Reports say the worker visited the Smokey Creek home of 20-year-old Tristan Coffey for address canvassing when the incident occurred.

Arrest reports show Coffey was charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure.

Reports further indicate this is the ninth time Coffey has been arrested in either Burke or Caldwell County for similar events.

He was detained in Burke for the current charge under a 35-thousand dollar bond.

McDowell County officers capture three suspects near the scene of a break-in in Old Fort.

37-year-old Brandon Lee Wilson, 18-year-old Joshua Michael Lee Paul, and 22-year-old Tana Ester Ruane all of Old Fort face numerous breaking and entering charges.

Old Fort Police assisted by the state highway patrol located the trio of suspects in the woods near a home that had been broken into on Bull Walker Road.

Reports say all three had backpacks with them that contained stolen property from the home.

Wilson’s bag reportedly also contained burglary tools and two grams of meth.

A news release says NC Governor Roy Cooper has signed legislation raising criminal penalties against those who commit gun assaults to on-duty officers.

The measure was signed Wednesday and is named for Trooper Kevin Conner who was fatally shot last year in Columbus County after stopping a vehicle for speeding.

Two people await trial in Conner’s death.

Approved last week by the General Assembly, the legislation also increases penalties when emergency workers sustain serious assaults, and it provides an additional 100-thousand dollar death benefit to the survivors of slain public safety employees.

Cooper says the law will deter future violence against those who work to keep communities safe.