‘This isn’t mine’: Man allegedly arms deputy field of meth, heroin throughout arrest for little one help

ROCKINGHAM – A man reportedly behind on child support payments has denied ownership of drugs he handed a deputy during a traffic stop.

Deputies patrolling the Airport Road area in East Rockingham pulled over a vehicle with expired tags around 4 am Tuesday morning, according to a press release issued by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

After making contact with both occupants of the vehicle, the deputy found out that the passenger, 30-year-old Dustin Mark Norton, of Rockingham, had two outstanding orders for arrest for non-payment of child support, the release states.

While being taken into custody, Norton reportedly pulled an orange box out of his pocket and told the deputy, “This is not mine.”

Inside the box, the deputy reportedly found glass smoking pipes, a straw, 0.76 grams of heroin and 6.79 grams of meth.

Norton was charged with one felony counting each of possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin, and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was booked into the Richmond County Jail where he is being held on a $5,000 secured bond for the drug charges and a combined $18,409 cash bond for child support.

Jail records, which as of 3 pm Tuesday only showed that cash bond for two counts of failure to appear on a misdemeanor, indicate his court date on those charges is Aug. 4.

Norton appears to have no other pending charges or previous convictions in the state.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.