Man with ties to Soles faces new charges

WHITEVILLE - Billy Jay Wright, a Tabor City man with ties to state Sen. R.C. Soles Jr., was arrested by Tabor City police Monday.

Wright, 23, of the 400 block of Green Sea Road, was wanted on a pair of assault charges when Officer Richard Kosloski spotted him around 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot across from The Todd House, near Soles' law offices.

A police report said Wright resisted officers and tried to swallow what appeared to be cocaine he had in his possession. He also had $2,037.

Wright was charged with resisting police and possession of cocaine. He was jailed with bail set at $5,400. He was released Monday afternoon.

Wright is a former law client of Soles. He was released from prison Aug. 11 after being sentenced in February 2007 on a series of larceny and possession of stolen goods charges, and after running from Tabor City police.

Wright was pulled from beneath a Garrell Street house on Feb. 9, 2007, after running from an area behind Soles' law offices. Wright had a lighter and threatened to set the house on fire before he was sprayed with a fire hose and pepper spray and pulled from under the house.

Wright was with another Soles legal client, Thomas Kyle Blackburn, on Aug. 23 when Soles shot Blackburn in the thigh at his Lake Tabor home. Wright was not hurt.

A grand jury indicted Soles on Jan. 7 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.