SHELBY, N.C.-- A United Airlines pilot based in San Francisco is charged with flying 173 pounds of marijuana to the Shelby-Cleveland County Regional Airport.
That flight on a private plane landed in the middle of the night earlier this month.
Deputies and local police knew it was coming and surrounded the plane after it landed.
Pilot James Hathaway, Andrea Vander and Brook Rogers were arrested and charged.
All three are currently in the Cleveland County jail under $5 million bonds.
The arrests happened several hundred yards from a neighboring business.
"Homestead's,” Rhonda Wood says while answering the phone.
They sell mulch, topsoil, pine needles and feed.
It's a stone's throw from the airport.
"It's very rural,” Wood says.
At Homestead’s, a 50-pound-bag of chicken pellets will cost you $10.50.
Rabbit pellets cost .50 cents more.
Wood says those planes she hears across the street, are more of an occasional hum than a constant drone.
"You'll see one, two or three times a day as you go about your business,” Wood said.
Cleveland County investigators says Hathaway's business earlier this month was flying in a much more expensive shipment than animal feed.
173-pounds of marijuana, worth at least $200,000, to Shelby in the dark of night on board a 1978 Aerostar plane.
Narcotics agents knew the plane was coming and surrounded it when it landed.
They arrested Hathaway and alleged accomplices Brook Rogers and Andrea Vander.
All are from California and now face drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.
"You would think it would go to a much larger city,” Wood says.
Investigators aren't talking, so we don't know if the marijuana was supposed to stay in Shelby or go elsewhere.
Also unclear is the extent of Hathaway's alleged role or who owns the plane.
Shelby airport officials say it's been confiscated by US Customs Enforcement.
To Wood, the pot bust across the street brings a whole new meaning to flying high.
"I'd hate to think that I'm on a plane flying to California or Boston or somewhere for any extended period of time and my pilot is a drug dealer,” she says.
Deputies aren't talking about this case because it's heading to federal court.
United says Hathaway has been removed from service until this is resolved in court.
