Man disputes police report; says plants weren't his

“There are two things in life – right and wrong, black and white. There is no gray area,” said Chris Davidson in a friendly, candid talk with the Report yesterday afternoon.

Davidson’s name is in a 1999 police report from the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office. According to the report, two officers received a tip about marijuana plants growing in a garden owned by Davidson. Upon arriving on the scene, Davidson gave the officers consent to search his property. During the search, the officers reportedly located seven marijuana plants growing in pots in Davidson’s garden.

The report narrative states that when the officers called Davidson to the yard and asked him about the plants, "Davidson stated he had already called Sheriff Redmond at the office and that we could not charge him with the plants." When the officers explained to Davidson that he could, in fact, be charged, Davidson responded: "Fuck it, it wouldn't stick." Davidson was never charged.

Davidson said that isn’t the way he remembers it. In fact, he said he never spoke to Redmond at all that day – because Redmond was at the beach with his wife.

“It was on a Friday as best as I can remember,” Davidson said. He said his secretary called him and stated that two officers from the Sheriff’s Office needed to speak with him. Davidson said he met the officers, who asked for consent to search, and Davidson said he consented without hesitation.

It all started when the animal shelter had set up a cage on his property to catch an animal, Davidson said, adding that the cage had been set up for about a week. Apparently when animal control checked the trap, the county employee stumbled upon the plants and reported them to the sheriff’s office.

The two deputies responded to the call and found the plants in Davidson’s garden. “They were found in 5-gallon buckets,” Davidson remembered, adding that the stalks had already turned brown.

Davidson said emphatically that he does not grow or use drugs. And he said he knows who is responsible for the plants in his yard – a former, disgruntled employee. “I loaned him some money, and he spent the money on doping,” Davidson said. “That’s where the pot plants came from.”

Davidson said if he were going to manufacture marijuana, it would make no sense for him to grow the plants in 5-gallon buckets and keep them in such an obvious spot – especially when he owns a sprawling 140 acres. Davidson said he even told the officers he would take a drug test to prove that he does not use drugs, including marijuana.

He said things turned a little heated when one of the officers said to him: “ ‘I’m going to take you down and charge you’.”

At that point, Davidson said he told the deputies: “Phil (Redmond) knows me, and the Narcotics boss (then Jimmy Craven) knows me – I would like to speak to them first.”

Davidson said he called the Sheriff’s Office and was told that Redmond was at the beach with his wife and would not return to the office until Monday. “His daddy had died shortly before that,” Davidson recalled of Redmond. He said the Sheriff’s Office also stated that Craven would not be available until Monday.

So Davidson said he asked the two sheriff’s deputies if the matter could wait until Monday: “I told them, ‘Let’s let it go until Monday.’” He said he assured the officers that he would meet them on Monday and that the officers had no reason to doubt that he would stick to his word. “I own a business; I’m not going anywhere,” Davidson said he told the officers, adding that he has never been arrested.

He said he told the deputies “to just call me, and I’ll come by to see you (Monday).”

Davidson acknowledged that he was a little heated because he was being accused of something that did not belong to him. He said he told the officers: “I’m not guilty, and you’re not going to ruin my good name. If you charge me, I’m going to sue the hell out of the sheriff’s department.” Davidson said he told the officers: “I’m just trying to save you a lawsuit.”

Davidson continued: “I received a call from Phil and Jimmy” (on Monday)." He said he then attended a meeting with Redmond, Craven and the narcotics officer from the scene, whose name Davidson could not recall.

Davidson said the men “didn’t give me an answer then” regarding whether he would be charged.

However, he said, “It was handled professionally. There were no strings pulled. Thank God the detective let it go until Monday.”

“They handled themselves in a very professional way,” Davidson said.