Caught making moonshine, 84-year-old Franklin County man pleads guilty to reduced charges

ROCKY MOUNT — A Franklin County man received 12 months in jail, all suspended, on moonshining-related charges today.

Cecil Love, 84, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Circuit Court to misdemeanor possession of distilling apparatus without a permit in exchange for reduced charges.

Love had been charged with the illegal manufacture of alcohol, a felony, after Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents found him stirring a stainless steel pot of corn mash with a wooden stick in a dried creek bed in June, according to Franklin County assistant commonwealth’s attorney Patrick Nix.

Agents also found other distilling apparatus, including a 55-gallon barrels filled with corn mash, coolers and propane tanks, Nix said.

Love admitted at the time that he was planning to make liquor and had been selling it to friends and family, Nix said.  

Love had never been charged with “so much as a speeding ticket” before and received a Purple Heart medal for military service, according to his attorney, B.J. Jefferson.

“That would be a lot easier to admit to than some of what he told the officers,” Jefferson said.

Judge William Alexander suspended the sentence on the condition of Love’s good behavior for two years.

“I will add, because of your good name in Franklin County, that this agreement is appropriate,” Alexander said.