Illegal winery operation discovered, city employee suspended

Illegal winery operation discovered, city employee suspended

I'm dan shaffer.

And i'm najahe sherman.

Waay 31's sophia borrelli spoke with the mayor of rainsville and the sheriff today... she has the very latest on the investigation.

Nick welden, dekalb county sheriff: "once the door was opened and you went inside, it was shocking.

It was shocking at what you seen.

It definitely, it definitely wasn't something you were expecting to see at a public building like that."

This is what dekalb county sheriff nick welden says was so shocking to see.

The sheriff says his deputies confiscated about 100 gallons of alcohol as well as other items at the rainsville wastewater treatment plant on thursday.

Nick welden, dekalb county sheriff: "inside the building was a large amount of illegal alcohol, several, several jugs of alcohol, and a lot of ingredients for the product and just an array of all kinds of things to do with a winery."

The mayor of rainsville says one employee is suspended without pay - pending the investigation.

Rodger lingerfelt, city of rainsville mayor: "the wastewater treatment plant is one of those things that you go down there and you see most of it, but you don't see every little corner, and this was off in an area where we never did go."

The sheriff says the investigation started after they recieved an anonymous tip.

Nick welden, dekalb county sheriff: "we look into each and every one of those, no matter what they are or how silly they may sound to some people, to someone that is a huge problem, so we look into it."

The mayor says he didn't know anything about the illegal winery - and says the city of rainsville is cooperating with the investigation.

Rodger lingerfelt, city of rainsville mayor: "devastated, you got some kind of problem going on like that and you don't know about it, and it's just hard to take this."

Sophia looklive: the mayor says operations here at the treatment plant are uninterupted by the investigation.

In rainsville - sophia borrelli waay 31 news.

The sheriff's office says the investigation is ongoing and they want to stress the importance of not being afraid to call in a tip if someone is concerned.