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Polk pair charged with possessing still, moonshine

Photo from Polk County Sheriff's Office

Deputies said they found this working still at 7316 Thomas Jefferson Circle E. in Bartow.

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TBO.com

Published: November 6, 2009

Kenneth Wilkerson

Rockie Smith

A moonshine apparatus by any other name is still a still.

Polk County sheriff's deputies this week raided a Bartow home and seized a working still. Two suspects were arrested, and seven jars of moonshine were seized.

Deputies said they got an anonymous tip that homemade alcohol was being distilled at 7316 Thomas Jefferson Circle E. and obtained a search warrant. An agent with the Florida Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms assisted in the raid.

Deputies found the fully operational still when they entered the home.

Both suspects lived at the residence. Charged was Kenneth Wayne Wilkerson, 54, and 36-year-old Rockie D. Smith. Deputies said both admitted to making moonshine for their own use and to sell to friends and co-workers.

Each was charged with possession of a still, possession of moonshine and conspiracy to violate Florida beverage laws. All are third-degree misdemeanors.

Both men have since posted bail and were released from custody.

"Every now and then, we run across an illegal moonshine still," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement announcing the arrests this morning. "It gives us a glimpse of what law enforcement must have been like back in the day."

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