A Client In The Closet

The North Carolina Disciplinary Hearing Commission has ordered the interim suspension of a convicted attrney

On 9 August 2021, Harwell entered a plea of guilty in the Superior. Court for Iredell County, North Carolina to the following:
a. Felony Possession of Methamphetamine, :in violation ofN.C. Gen. Stat.§ 90~95(a)(3);
b. Misdemeanor Harboring a Fugitive, in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat § 14- 267; and
c, Misdemeanor Resisting Public Officer, :in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-223.

Harwell’s conduct underlying the plea involved making one or more false statements to police officers regarding a client’s whereabouts when the officers arrived at Harwell’s home seeking to serve a warrant for that client’s arrest, Harwell had provided that client a home, medical care, and transportation, and that client had provided Harwell methamphetamine.

The attorney did not respond to the petition for interim suspension.

Patch reported on the arrest

On Jan. 25, deputies received a tip that the wanted suspect, Stephen Rush Styron, 36, was in a home in the 300 block of Rinehardt Road in Mooresville. He was wanted on several outstanding warrants from Mecklenburg, Rowan and Iredell counties, ICSO said.

When deputies responded to the home, however, resident Brian Richard Harwell, 53, told deputies Styron was not in the home.

Deputies then asked to search the home for Styron. “Harwell told them he needed to check with another occupant in the residence first. After several minutes, Harwell came back to the door and allowed the deputies inside,” ICSO said.

It was then that deputies found Styron hiding in a bedroom closet. He was taken into custody without incident, and is being held in the Iredell County Detention Center without bond for a probation violation warrant. For the remaining charges, a magistrate set his secured bond at $686,500.

(Mike Frisch)