Police charge former Mecklenburg judge with having fake tags, cocaine, paraphernalia
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested a former Mecklenburg County judge and charged him with having fake tags on his vehicle, cocaine and drug paraphernalia this week.
An officer arrested Charles “Casey” Viser on Monday, according to an affidavit filed in court.
Viser was elected in 2020 to an eight-year term in superior court, but he abruptly stepped away from the bench and resigned just two years after the election.
A Charlotte native, he first joined the Mecklenburg bench in 2013 when he was appointed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, to fill a district court vacancy. He lost re-election the next year, but McCrory again appointed him to a position in 2015, that time as a special judge in superior court.
In Monday’s traffic stop, Viser’s Mercedes SUV had “fictitious” tags, according to the police affidavit.
“While investigating the traffic stop, I observed an open container of an alcoholic beverage,” the officer’s affidavit said.
The officer later found a jar with .2 grams of a “white powder substance,” a straw that had the same substance on it and an empty jar in Viser’s pocket with residue, according to the officer’s account.
Viser is out of jail.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 11:26 AM.