Man arrested for possession of between 7,000 and 10,000 stolen guns

A man has been arrested in North Carolina after deputies estimate that they seized between 7,000 and 10,000 stolen guns from a house and warehouse near Pageland. Deputies arrested Brent Nicholson, 51, in Union County in connection to the stolen goods, deputies said on Saturday. The seized guns, ammunition, and hundreds of other items were all found on Friday evening on a single property off of Highway 9 outside of Pageland city limits, which is about 3 miles from the NC border, said Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks.



Brooks says the guns alone filled one tractor trailer and ammunition filled another. Nicholson was arrested and charged with possession of a stolen firearm and drug charges, including trafficking opium and heroin, earlier in the week in Union County. Deputies reportedly went to serve him with a subpoena on Friday and noticed what appeared to be stolen goods in his front yard. The deputies say they wrote out the reports for the stolen property just says before. “None of us have ever seen anything anywhere close to this,” Brooks said.





“No telling how many break-ins this will held wrap up.” Over 100 law enforcement officials were on the scene. Brooks says 20 agents will now be sifting through the evidence “piece by piece.” Their goal will be to eventually find the rightful owners. Deputies estimate that 99 percent of the seized goods are stolen. Brooks says Nicholson lived at the home where the items were found. It is believed that other people stole the guns for him. When asked what Nicholson was doing with so many guns, Brooks said, “(he) looks like a gun hoarder to be honest with you.”


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Deputies have found no evidence that he ever sold any of the guns. “You know he just had 7,000 guns,” Brooks said. “99.9 percent are hunting rifles and shot guns.” Brooks called the items found a “menagerie” of stolen property which also includes 150 chainsaws, 4-wheelers, and taxidermy supplies. Nicholson and his father ran a liquor store in Pageland, but according to Brooks it’s been on his radar for a long time in connection to cases of stolen property. Warrants were also drawn up for his fathers home, their liquor store, and a farm that Nicholson owned.