Corporal W.C. Smith of the town’s police department said Shaquetta Ja’Ke Penney, 24, and her boyfriend, David I. Robinson, 40, made bond the same day they were arrested and haven’t been seen since.
The couple has been placed in NCAWARE after they failed to show for their first court appearance following their August 31 arrests.
“They didn’t make their first appearance,” Smith said. “We don’t know where they went to. The guy is from New York City. They could have moved back to New York.”
The search for the couple complicates an already complex story that began with a complaint of stolen money and led to drug selling charges for Penney, who made the complaint to the town’s police department last month.
The arrests of Penney and Robinson started when Penney complained to Gaston police money she kept in a baby wipes box was stolen by a friend.
The friend said he never stole the money, that he just went to Penney’s house to buy marijuana from her. That led to an investigation by Smith and deputies from the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office at Butler Drive which is in the county.
Smith said Seaboard Police Chief George Reed and his dog Blitz also accompanied deputies Jimmy Pair and Jeff Allen to the house.
There the dog alerted on numerous items throughout the house: A baby wipes box with dollar bills wrapped by rubber bands with the scent of marijuana on it, a quantity of marijuana in a plastic bag on a nightstand, laundry in the living room where money with the scent of marijuana was on it, $5 bills in a pair of pants with the scent of marijuana on it and a box where marijuana had been stored.
The officers also seized digital scales and plastic bags.
Penney and Robinson were both charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a dwelling to keep a controlled substance.
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