Owner of raided building denies nightclub allegations

BLADENBORO, NC (WWAY) — Investigators say a building raided by five agencies this weekend is a “makeshift nightclub,” but the owner says the building is just a place for friends and family to gather.

Bladenboro Police say Morris Bellamy Jr. and his father were hosting huge parties in their backyard charging cover fees and selling alcohol to minors. Police say they were keeping track of the parties for a few months after seeing posters like this online.

Bellamy’s mother Freida says she lets friends and family host parties in the building, but she never allows underage drinking.

“There were no minors here,” Freida Bellamy said. “Everyone in there was grown.”

She says this weekend’s birthday girl had a cover charge to pay for party expenses.

“She was just charging for her beer and alcohol, and she charged to get in,” Freida said. “She’s got to pay her DJ, and she wants some of her money back. It was her birthday.”

She says officers even tased a handcuffed man three times because he was mouthing off, but ALE Special Agent David Hales says while a man was tased, he was not handcuffed. He says the man was resisting, so officers tased him twice.

At first investigator James Daniels of the Bladenboro Police Department said more than 30 guns, including an assault rifle were taken during the raid of the building off Butler Mill Road in Bladenboro, but we later found out through ALE that the numbers were wrong. Hales says only a few guns, including an AK-47 were seized. When we asked the exact number of guns, he referred us to the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office and Bladenboro Police. The Sheriff’s Office said they could not release any information because it is ALE’s case.

ALE arrested four people on charges of drug possession, selling alcohol without permits and other charges.