Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon
to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you
want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,
my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,
go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the
subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your
smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for
your support. So I will start here and update you
throughout the course of the day as we get more information.
But there was a plane crash at the Statesville Regional
Airport that's in Iredell County. According to the sheriff, multiple
deaths occurred when a Sesna See five point fifty airplane
crashed at around ten to fifteen am, so a little
over an hour and a half ago. It was not
a me imediately known exactly how many people were on
board the plane nor who they were. A picture from
the airport shows the plane and a massive ball of
flames after it crashed. WBTV reports that business record show
the plane was affiliated with retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle.
It was not clear if he was on the plane
when it crashed. According to Well, that's just the city's
website and the city owned airports or some details about
the airport there. Assessina C five fifty business jet crashed
while landing this morning. This is according to WSOCTV. The
tail number N twenty five seven BW which is owned
by GB Greg Biffel GB Aviation Leasing, which has the
same address as Greg Biffle. Again, we don't know who
was on board the plane. Biffle is a well known
NASCAR driver. He had over five hundred cups starts and
nineteen wins, and you may remember he made a lot
of headlines. A little over a year ago after Hurricane Helene,
he and a bunch of volunteers got together and began
running emergency relief supply flights to the mountains of western
North Carolina, and more recently, he was running relief efforts
down to Jamaica when Hurricane Melissa moved through the area.
Biffle is himself a registered pilot AC. According to motorsport
dot Com, he led several daring expeditions by helicopter into
the mountains of western North Carolina and East Tennessee following
Hurricane Helene aimed, aiming to help stranded people and deliver
aid to those that were cut off from the rest
of the world by the historic floods. There was we
saw a report, but I don't have it confirmed that
there's going to be some sort of a press conference.
I think it was initially reported that there may it
may occur at noon, but obviously that's not happening at
this point. If they do hold a news conference and
we were able to grab it, I will I will
bring it to you, you know, live as it occurs.
Hang on a second. So that's okay. So now to
Channel nine is now looks like doing some other crash
or something. Hang on, hang on, we have the TVs
on up here and looking at Channel nine. Oh, they're
talking about an emergency landing at Statesville Airport last year,
So okay, So I don't know if they're trying to
fill time before the news conference begins or not. Again,
w BTV reporting that fatalities are confirmed. The area was
very foggy, it still is. Traffic around the airport roads
have been blocked, so there we don't know if whether
played a factor in the crash or not. But it's
I mean, looking at the the images from you know,
witnesses and people who saw it happened. Uh, it's it's horrific.
It's just catastrophic. If anybody walked away, it would be
a miracle. So again, we'll give you more details as
we as we get them. But if you are of
the praying kind, say a prayer for the families and
the victims in this crash. A story that I have
not yet covered, but I've been building sort of my
my stack of prep about it is. And it's there's
no reason why I haven't gotten to it. Just accept
my poor time management skills. It's been the story of
the Sycamore Brewing founder, co founder, Justin Brigham. And when
the story first broke, you know, a couple of days ago,
you know, I've printed out some various reports and I've
just kept adding to them as we get more and
more details because the original story, I think led a
lot of people to believe and we still don't know
exactly what occurred. When this man, Justin Brigham, who's I
want to say, forty four years old or so, yeah,
forty four, he was arrested and charged with breaking and
entering and child rape. And when people hear those two charges,
I think it it paints an image of like a
maniac kicking in a door, you know, and assaulting some child.
But as more details have emerged, it seems like he
met this girl on Snapchat. She's thirteen years old. She's
not been identified due to her age. There's a report
also that she had sent him in inappropriate picture on
Snapchat and when her parents discovered that he was in
her bedroom naked. It seems to me like a fight
ensued of some kind because the other day, when I
think a day two days ago, another charge, well, multiple
more charges were thrown at Brigham, and one of the
charges included an assault. But the victim in that charge
is a male and shares the same last name as
the victim. And I'm going to put some context clues
together here and submit that that's probably the father. So
this guy justin Brigham, according to the charge, grabbed the
I believe the father grabbed him by his groin and
squeezed and twisted, causing severe pain, which would explain how
he was able to escape the house. Right, he assaulted
the dad and then he flees the house. He's completely naked.
He gets into his car, which I guess he left unlocked,
or maybe it's a fingerprint open door lock or something,
because he fled without any of his clothing. That's what
it seems like. Again, we don't have all these details,
but police found him in his car completely naked, which
would make sense if he got caught in the act
with the thirteen year old. So this was from wbtv's report.
The Charlotte man accused of raping a teenage girl last
week allegedly used the social media app snapchat to contact
the girl. According to the Stanley County Sheriff's Office, Justin
Brigham the former owner. He's being referred to as that
based on statements from his wife and co owner of
Sycamore Brewing. But confirming that is more difficult because well,
there are reasons and the Charlotte Ledger gets into some
of this, but and I'm going to get to that,
but he's being identified as the former owner of Sycamore Brewing.
He was accused of breaking into a home in Stanfield
in Stanley County, outside of Albemarle and raping a thirteen
year old girl. So this was what it seems like
to me, is that they were talking. This was arranged
and because of her age, it's statutory rate because she
cannot legally consent because she's only thirteen. The Sheriff's office
said that the social media app was Snapchat. Officials also
charged him with more child sex crimes in connection with
the rape. The Stanley County Sheriff's Office announced the following
new charges, three counts of statue toy sex offense with
a child under the age of fifteen, one count of
second degree sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of
soliciting a child by computer, and one count of assault
inflicting serious bodily injury. And that was the assault that
was on apparently the father. Again, I'm like, this is
just my reading sort of between the lines and compiling
all the information, like that's what this, that's what it
sounds like. I don't know. Maybe there was somebody else,
maybe it was her brother or something that he assaulted.
I don't know. But one of the questions that people
have been asking is like, wait, the parents caught him,
how did he make it out of the house? Right,
So it seems like there may have been a fight
that ensued. I would imagine it's also pretty startling, right,
and if you know, maybe jumped out a window or something.
So don't know. Now, with the other charges that they
threw at Brigham, I believe now they have revoked his
bond with the addition of the new charges. He was
initially given a ten million dollar bond, but he was
being held because he couldn't afford it, and so he
was being held in the county jail. And now with
the new charges, I think the last report was that
he had his bond completely revoked. So what to make
of Sycamore Brewing Now it's kind of a Dickensian name
for all of this story as well. You know, stories
are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to
understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our
past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning
of life, and our stories are told through images and videos.
Preserve your stories with Creative Video. Started in nineteen ninety
seven in Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company
to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos
into high quality produced slide shows, videos, and albums. The trusted,
talent and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over
all of the details with you to create a perfect project,
satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them.
They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos
for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas,
family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories, all told
through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They
are your life told through the eyes of everyone around
you and all who came before you, and they will
tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video
dot com seven oh four five, seven oh one oh
seven nine. That's the call in number. It's also the
text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. So this is
from a listener MacLean who says, uh, the male victim
was the girl's older brother. The father died over a
month ago, so that's interesting. And then that also, I like,
when did when did this guy Brigham, the Sycamore Brewing
co founder, when did he start communicating with this girl?
How long has that been going on? If her father
had recently died, then that that offers a window for
a predator right to take advantage. So this is thank
you for the for the information. Like I said, I'm
just trying to piece together what limited information is available.
The Stanley County uh Sheriff's Office has not been providing
a lot of details. I'm not and I'm not dragging
them for that. I'm just saying they haven't been providing
a lot of details about, you know, how they met
and everything else, and so maybe we find out more
as they work through the court system at some point,
obviously they have to. Before his arrest, he was listed
as co founder of Sycamore Brewing. According to Business Record,
Sycamore Brewing is the largest brewery in Charlotte in one
of the city's most popular spots see and this is see.
Here's the problem is that, according to all of the
reports that I have seen, all of the officials say
that the parents found him. That and so like that.
I don't understand her. If this girl's father had passed
away a month ago, I'm not sure why this information
would be in the official narrative coming out of the
sheriff's office. Sounds like they would know if there were
two parents there, right, and if there weren't two parents,
they would say the mother found them. But this was
the initial reporting, and it's remained consistent that they found
him the parent. The victim's parents found Brigham in their
daughter's bedroom. Brigham was ultimately found completely undress in a
vehicle near the victim's home, which I assume is his vehicle,
But that's just an assumption. I don't know, again, limited information.
I'm assuming he rented a car or drove his own
car parked somewhere, maybe not on the property, but maybe
nearby in order to you know, have this rendezvous with
the girl that I'm assuming he had lined up outside
obviously of the parent's knowledge. The breaking and entering people
think that that that requires some sort of you know,
like kicking in a door or busting out a window.
It does not necessarily mean that though, like I've heard
people refer to it with the breaking is breaking the threshold.
If you open a door that's closed, that could be
considered breaking and entering and stuff. So again, like the
nature of the charges paint a pick sure of something
that might not actually be the case. It might be
I don't know. I'm just these are the questions that
I have that I would be asking at these press conferences.
How did he gain entry? Like start like I start
with basic fundamental questions, simple questions whose car was he driving,
whose car did you find him in? Stuff like that,
How did he gain entry into the house? Were both
parents there that found him? Were there any other people
in the home at the time. Right, So he was
initially held on a ten million dollar bond and banned
from social media. Now after this story. So this story
broke about what five days ago, and the initial statement
that came from Sycamore Brewing they posted it on their Instagram.
Nobody from the brewery has done any interview, is they
have and give a press conference that they're not talking
and like, look, I cannot imagine what this guy with
the attackers family has to be going through, right, I mean, like,
I'm very sympathetic here to the wife who you find
out that your husband did what right, and now you
are in the midst of complete wreckage of your your family, right,
the life that you have built, your business, one hundred
and twenty employees that are relying on you for their paychecks,
all of the fans and customers that loved the brewery
and the beer that they made, and all of it
just detonated overnight. So how do you respond to something
like this. There's no there's no rule book. You know,
I'm not aware of you know of of a guide
on how to get through something like this. But Sycamore
Brewing put out a response, and it said that it
was divesting, that he was going to divest all of
his interests and will have no further involvement with the company.
His wife, Sarah Taylor, said in the statement that she's
taking full leadership of the company, effective immediately, and she
is quote devastated by the charges against Justin and the
pain this has inflicted on our family and others. They
then put out another statement, But this first statement may
have prompted the cancelation of an event that was set
for today. Here's a great idea. How about making an
escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western
North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and
cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary,
a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal,
or get family and friends together for a big old reunion.
If Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you
can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that
truly matter Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres
of the Pisga National Forest. Their cabins offer a serene
escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, centrally
located between Ashville and the entrance of the Great Smoky
Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion and
proximity to all the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces,
air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables and
your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen.
Speaker 2: Cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a great lodge with
eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville has the ideal
spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet
friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two eight three six
seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is
to offer at Cabins offashville dot com and make memories
that'll last a lifetime. In the immediate aftermath of the
arrests of the co founder of Sycamore Brewing, largest brewery
in Charlotte, on charges of child rape, he drove out
to Stanfield near Albemarle and apparently set up a meeting
and was talking to a thirteen year old girl on Snapchat.
Reports were that her parents came in and caught him
in the child's bedroom. Apparently a fight ensued. He's also
charged with assaulting some other male in the house. They
added that charge along with a couple of others, and
so they put out a statement in the immediate aftermath
of the arrest. Sycamore Brewing did and I read to
you that statement before the.
Speaker 1: Break that apparently is part of the reason why an
event that was scheduled for tonight. I believe where Sycamore
Brewing is located. It's called the Line Building. It's it's
in South End, it's on the light rail line. And
they had some big event tonight, like a little pop
up market deal, and it got canceled. This is from WSOCTV.
The fallout continues for Sycamore Brewing, as a Charlotte small
business owner canceled a planned holiday event, citing concerns about
holding a celebration in the wake of child sex crime
charges against the breweries. Co founder Lydia Warns said she
understands that the actions of one man don't represent the
entire company. However, she doesn't feel comfortable holding an event
about peace and love in the holiday season in light
of the recent charges against the breweries co founder Justin Brigham.
Warrens organizes pop up markets around Charlotte through her company
Makers Market CLT. Earlier this week, she canceled the holiday
market scheduled for today tonight at the Line Building in
South End, which would have highlighted her vendors and other
businesses that operate in the same building as Sycamore Brewing.
She says, I was under the impression that they were
going to try to open and sell beer, I guess
during her event, and she said it was an immediate
no in my head. I can't, she said, you know,
as for Brigham's wife, who's the other co owner of
the brewery, she said, I feel for her. She's going
through something. I don't think there's a guidebook for that's true,
But she also said that she was she did not
She did not like the statement that came out from
Sycamore Brewing. She said, even the initial press release they did,
I think is what set my mind to be like, Okay,
we're done, because it felt like it wasn't about the community,
it wasn't about the victim. It felt a little to
me a little selfish again. No guidebook here. Channel nine
learned that several Charlotte bars have been unable to order
Sycamore products all week through Adams Distributing, one of the
distributors of the beers. It's one of the biggest distributors
in the Charlotte area. They did not respond to requests
for comments from Channel nine. Comer Distributing also stopped selling
Sycamore beers. They said, our responsibility goes beyond the products
we sell. Even though the vile person responsible has not
been involved in the day to day operations of the
brewery for a couple years. He resided outside the US
prior to this happening. What that's new information that he
hasn't even been involved in the company for years and
he doesn't live in America anymore? Curious? All right, if
you're listening to this show, you know I try to
keep up with all sorts of current events, and I
know you do too. And you've probably heard me say
get your news from multiple sources. Why. Well, because it's
how you detect media bias, which is why I've been
so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's
a website, and it combines news from around the world
in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information.
You can check it out at check dot ground, dot
news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast
description too. I started using ground News a few months
ago and more recently chose to work with them as
an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories
get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows
you which stories get ignored by the left and the right.
See for yourself check dot ground, dot news slash pete.
Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off
any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited
access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps
my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they
make the media landscape more transparent. Sycamore Brewing released a
second statement. They did this on Saturday, and it says
we wanted to speak directly to our friends and the
community about events from the past few days. On Thursday,
our co founder and former owner, Justin Brigham was charged
by the Stanley County Sheriff's Office with statutory rape of
a child, first degree burglary, and indecent liberties with a child.
These charges are horrifying and Justin's acts are despicable. We
are heartbroken for the victim. No person should have to
endure what she did. We realize that words cannot fix
what has been done, but want everyone to know that
our hearts are completely broken for her. These are unforgivable actions.
Justin made horrible decisions, and now he must deal with
the consequences. We hope that justice is rapid and allows
for the victim and her family to begin the healing process.
When we first learned of Justin's arrest on Thursday, Sarah Taylor,
co founder and owner put Out and wife put out
a short statement. This statement came from a devastated wife
and a mother trying to make sense of something unthinkable.
Released shortly after learning of the news, the statement tried
to provide information and share that Justin was no longer
an owner or manager of Sycamore. Sarah is navigating an
unknown path, trying to find footing as a mother and
as the owner of a business with deep ties to
our community. Amid the shock and devastation, she is focusing
on her duties to both a shattered household and a
shattered community to bring both through this situation. Endless people
have been impacted by Justin's actions. Our Sycamore staff have
been has been steadfast, working tirelessly amidst the chaos and uncertainty.
We will get through this, and this family has each
other's backs for our community, friends, customers, neighbors. We realize
trust has been violated. We know you are angry. We
are angry too, and still learning and processing the full
scope of what happened. While there is a legal process unfolding.
We want to be as transparent with you about how
deeply we share your outrage and sorrow. To be clear,
Sycamore will not assist in Justin's defense. We trust that
the legal system will hold Justin fully accountable for what
he has done. This is about doing right by all
of those who have been affected by this, first and
foremost by the victim and er family, but also by
Sarah and her daughter, and by the innocent people whose
livelihoods depend on Sycamore. Much better statement, a little bit
of an explanation as to why the first statement was
so terse, which makes sense to me. But here's the problem.
Not only have bars been dumping out this beer right
there's and look, there is a whole bunch of performance
going on with people doing this for you know, their
social media posts and stuff. I get that distributors are
you know, taking it off their off their inventory list.
You've got restaurants, you've got grocery stores. People are pulling
the beer. The problem is that the brand is now toxic.
It just is people don't want to be seen drinking
your beer because it sends a message, even if it's
stupid and it's you know, if this guy, uh Brigham
wasn't even involved in day to day operations and he was.
I got a text that they apparently owned a house
in Bermuda, which is apparently where they met. I think
she is originally from Bermuda. I think that's what I
read in Yeah. In twenty seventeen podcast, Sarah Taylor Brigham
reflected on how they met. She was working during a
college summer as a jet ski tour guide in Bermuda,
where she is from, and one day spy Justin, a
Charlotte Latin grad who attended the University of Colorado who
was working on a tour boat. They struck up a
conversation and then they eventually got married, moved to Charlotte
to pursue their dream together. They named the business Sycamore,
after the sycamore tree, which is prevalent throughout the state
and is long living, something that the brewery hopes it
will emulate. That was according to an article in Charlotte
Magazine back in twenty thirteen. That's why they named it Sycamore.
It's prevalent throughout the state and it is long living. Unfortunately,
I don't think this brand is going to be long living.
I see reports from various media outlets, but also you
know people going on their social media accounts and they,
you know, walk by the brewery and they shoot video
and show how like nobody's there. It is a massive
brewery right in the heart of South End, and no
one's going to it because the brand is toxic. They
don't want their they don't want to be seen holding
a can with the Sycamore name on it, and they
don't want their money to be used to support this
guy justin Brigham and trying to unwind business ownership. Unless
Brigham just signs it all away and says, yes, I'm
going to give up all of my shares, I'm going
to give up everything. I'm divesting and I will receive
no revenue whatsoever from this company that I built, which, oh,
by the way, could come in handy as I try
to hire a defense attorney. Do you think he's going
to do that? I don't now. I don't know what
their contracts look like. Usually there's some moral turpitude kind
of clause in a contract. If you do something to
bring ill repute to the company, they can several ties
and you lose a lot of your benefits and stuff.
But I don't know what those contracts say. Nobody does.
And even so that's going to take some time to
go through. And if he starts fighting that because he
needs a revenue source to pay for his defense, then
you can't say that if you go buy some beer
at Sycamore, that it's not going to go help him
in some way because you don't know. This is the problem.
This is the problem. Is it punishing the wife and
the one hundred and twenty or so employees of Sycamore?
It is? It is like and that that really stinks.
As far as I know, she had no knowledge of
this was going on anything like this as far as
I know, and she's a victim in this as well,
as is their daughter, as are the employees they were all.
I mean, the blast zone from this guy is immense,
and it's said all around, all around. But I don't
see any other way out of this unless they sell
it and rebrand it. I really don't, and I know
that stinks, but I don't know any other way out
for a company that's been impacted like this. All right,
that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much
for listening. I could not do the show without your
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on
the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too
and tell them you heard it here. You can also
become a patron at my Patreon page or go to
thepetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening,
and don't break anything while I'm gone.