This came up on my Facebook timeline a couple of days ago:

From the Scotland County Sheriff’s Department:
“On April 7, 2017, the Scotland County Narcotic’s Division arrested Archie Bethea, age 91, of Laurinburg NC. Archie Bethea was charged and arrested for Felony DrugTrafficking.”

And all I could think was, “Wow!”. Ninety-one years old and being arrested for felony drug charges. I don’t know any of the details so this is all speculation on my part, but I would guess that he was most likely selling his prescription meds. The way the laws are written, it really could be almost anything, but that’s the most likely situation. And 91 years old. Man, that’s just sad.

There were so many comments on Facebook speculating about this and most seem to think that because of his age, it was wrong to arrest him and that he was probably being used as a pawn or taking the fall for someone else and, around here, that’s possible, but just as likely, he knew exactly what he was involved in and doing. This is Scotland County and the drug scene, especially where prescription meds and pills is concerned, is pretty damn bad. I personally know of plenty of people of all ages, old and young alike, who supplement their income selling their meds. And just as many who are out there, each and every night, looking to purchase them. But all of that is moot.

Ninety-one years old. What do his children and grand-children think? What the hell was he thinking? What the hell is he thinking now? There is so much more to this story than anyone knows or is saying right now. This man probably won’t see any actual jail time, with the exception of the initial arrest this past Friday, due to his age, but these kind of charges, especially in our over-crowded court system here in Scotland County, tend to drag on for years and years so he’ll most likely have this hanging over his head for the remainder of his life. Was it worth it? I wouldn’t think so.

I had plenty of thoughts and comments going around in my head when I first saw this, but most of them aren’t worth going into here. I just hope that this all turns out to be a big mistake and this all gets cleared up quickly, one way or the other. But if he did the crime and there is no doubt, it is what it is and should be handled just as any other criminal act would be. I’m not heartless and I feel bad for the guy being in this situation at this point and time in his life, but when you dance the dance, you have to pay the band and the laws, where drugs are involved, don’t have different guidelines for different ages.

This is a crazy situation and just makes me shake my head. Again, all I can say is, “WOW!”.