A Cumberland County grand jury has indicted an 82-year-old man on felony charges of illegal manufacturing of alcohol and committing an alcohol violation while armed.

The charges stem from an August incident in which Frank Silvester Fields, the suspect, was allegedly found operating an illegal still and manufacturing alcohol on Carriage Hill Road in Cumberland, according to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

According to ABC spokeswoman Kathleen Shaw and Cumberland

Commonwealth’s Attorney Patricia Scales, the two misdemeanors Fields originally faced — illegally selling alcohol and possessing distilling apparatus without a permit — were nolle prossed, or dropped.

“Only the felony charges went to the grand jury,” Shaw said.

According to Jennifer Guild, a Virginia ABC spokeswoman, Fields was manufacturing untaxed distilled spirits at his house in Cumberland.

Twenty-six quarts of spirits were seized, said Guild, in addition to other items connected to manufacturing the spirits.

The Virginia ABC was assisted with the arrest by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

Fields was arrested in early August, according to a Farmville Police arrest report.

If convicted, Fields would be guilty of two class six felonies.

A Jan. 26 trial is set in Cumberland Circuit Court.