CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A woman accused of selling moonshine from a day care says she and her husband were set up.
Gwendolyn Johnson, 57, and her husband, Artis, 64, are accused of selling moonshine at Parkview Community Center of Charlotte.
Alcohol Law Enforcement agents say they began investing the day care after receiving complaints.
"They did not find anything here," Gwendolyn Johnson told NewsChannel 36 Monday evening.
But according to the ALE, an undercover agent purchased two gallons of moonshine from Johnson at the center.
"After a prearranged setup to buy the liquor, they went there, met her outside and while they were outside the kids were outside raking leaves," said Mike Yates with ALE.
"But we did not know what was going on," Johnson said. "Someone set us up. And we understand they did. They told us we were set up. We've been in this neighborhood doing this program for 15 years and we've had people call sanitation, child abuse, code enforcement."
Agents say several children were present when the undercover agent bought the liquor.
"What the general public doesn't know and parents of the children at the day care don't know is what kind of clientele may come to her business," Yates said.
Johnson said that the children at her day care are not at risk.
The Johnsons are charged with possession of non-tax-paid liquor, selling non-tax-paid liquor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
A Catawba County man, Ervin Preston Finger, is charged with allegedly supplying the liquor. ALE agents seized 86 gallons of moonshine after an undercover operation.
(Reporter Glenn Counts contributed to this report.)
