Man arrested on weapon of mass destruction, drugs charges in my (formerly) sleepy hometown
This was Michael Norman Wray's third arrest inside a year for drug charges
My hometown is Holly Springs in southern Wake County. Just a decade ago, it was a sleepy little town of around 17,000 people filled with families and lots of wooded areas. Now it is a bustling Raleigh bedroom community of around 43,000.
With the population growth, there have been traffic challenges, school overcrowding, and a boom of businesses, restaurants, shops, and the like. There has also been a rise in crime - mostly cars being broken into and vandalism - but this past week, Holly Springs police arrested a man at a gas station on some hair-raising charges.
Michael Norman Wray, age 50, was arrested at the Sheetz gas station on Avent Ferry Road. That station is just a stone’s throw from a middle school and the town’s high school.
Officers were checking in on the station when they noticed Bray acting oddly and decided to check him and his vehicle out.
Inside his 1999 Toyota 4Runner, the police found “controlled dangerous substances, hazardous materials, and a suspected improvised explosive device.”
According to reports, the bomb squad was called out to deal with the situation as the Holly Springs Police Department doesn’t have a bomb/explosives detail. (Nor should it have to, yet here we are.)
Wray was charged with Manufacture, assembly, possession, storage, transportation, sale, purchase, delivery, or acquisition of a weapon of mass death and destruction, possession of a Weapon of Mass Destruction, possession of Methamphetamine, manufacture of Methamphetamine, Possess/Distribute Methamphetamine Precursor, and possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
Bray is not a Holly Springs resident. He lives in Sneads Ferry, which is located in Onslow County. What he was doing in Holly Springs at the time is unknown.
What is known is that he has an extensive arrest record of drug-related over the last year in neighboring Moore County.
More To The Story
Bray was arrested in Oct. 2022 along with a female in Carthage after attempting to flee from law enforcement per the Moore County Sheriff on Facebook:
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields announces the arrests of two individuals following a traffic stop in the Carthage area.
On October 24, 2022, Deputies with the Moore County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop in the 200 block of Vass-Carthage Road in Vass. After Deputies activated their emergency equipment, the vehicle fled, and Deputies pursued.
Deputies were able to get the vehicle stopped in the 800 block of McIntosh Road in Carthage. During the traffic stop, Deputies located heroin, methamphetamine, and items of drug paraphernalia.
Arrested:
Norman Michael Bray, 49, Sneads Ferry, N. C.
Charges- Possession of Heroin, Possession with Intent to Sell and Deliver Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Maintaining a Vehicle/Dwelling Place for Controlled Substances, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Flee to Elude Arrest with a Motor Vehicle, Expired Registration Plate, and No Inspection.
Bond: $15,000.00 Secured
Court Date: November 16, 2022
Morgan Rio Powell, 29, Lillington, N. C.
Charges- Possession of Heroin, Possession with Intent to Sell and Deliver Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Maintaining a Vehicle/Dwelling Place for Controlled Substances, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Bond: $14,000.00 Secured
Court Date: November 16, 2022
More recently, Bray was arrested again in the Carthage area of Moore County on June 13, 2023. The arrest included multiple drug charges and, again, a charge of attempting to flee authorities in his car.
Poss. Methamphetamine (Bond: 22CR326845-620 $30,000.00 )
Poss. w/ intent to manufacture/sell schedule II substance (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Maint. Veh/Dwell/Place CS (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Poss. Heroin (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Poss. drug paraphernalia (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Flee elude arrest with motor vehicle (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Expired reg/card/tag (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
Expired/no inspection (Bond: 22CR326845-620)
None of the outlets reporting the current arrest have yet picked up on Bray’s earlier arrests for similar crimes in Moore County.
The judge in the current case issued a secured bond for Wray in the amount of $120,000.
In total over the three arrests, Bray has now racked up $195,000 in arrest bonds.
One has to ask at this point just what is it going to take to get this guy behind bars and keep him there?