By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

ROCKWELL — A Rockwell teenager who reported an assault Friday was cited for drug possession.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office cited Matthew Tyler King, 18, for misdemeanor possession of a Schedule III controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Authorities also cited King’s girlfriend, Haley Greer, 17, of the 100 block of Braidon Drive, Rockwell, for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Officials said King called 911 about noon Friday to say he was being assaulted at a home on Braidon Drive. King told deputies that people who accused him of owing them money showed up in a gold Honda. King told deputies that one of the suspects started hitting him, according to a report.

Greer said a friend of the pair who was inside the house told them a friend named Delana was outside and wanted to speak with Greer.

Greer said she met Delana outside and a man asked her where King was and for him to come outside. King came outside and a verbal altercation ensued. The man began hitting King in the head, according to Greer’s statement to authorities.

King and Greer ran inside the house and she tried to close the door, but the assailant entered the house and continued beating King.

According to King’s statement to deputies, the woman named Delana came to the door and was met by Greer. King said both he and Greer went outside and when he got close to the Honda, a man started hitting him.

King told deputies he’d never seen the people in the car before.

Deputies reported finding a wallet in the driveway.

Deputies talked to William Shane Gobble, a friend of King, who said the night before, a wallet was found in the driveway but he didn’t know who it belonged to. Greer told deputies some friends were hanging out the night before and one of them had a wallet in his hand.

The Braidon Drive home belongs to Greer’s grandmother, who told deputies to search the girl’s bedroom. Deputies searched a jewelry box and found a marijuana pipe, a cut drinking straw with white powder residue on it and a clear bag with white powder residue on it.

King gave deputies permission to search him. They found a pill bottle with a suboxone pill inside.

King said he did not want deputies to pursue an investigation for the assault and withdrew his complaint. He said he would go to the magistrate’s office later to obtain a private warrant.

King was checked by members of the Rockwell Rural Fire Department but refused other treatment.

King was convicted in January of misdemeanor attempted breaking and entering as well as two counts of misdemeanor larceny in two separate incidents.