Monday, January 4, 2010
Three Arrested For Operating Meth Lab
Three individuals were taken into custody last week on charges that they were operating a meth lab set up inside a camper in the Mt. Lebanon area.
Acting on a confidential tip, agents made their way to the camper at 331 Mt. Lebanon Road on Tuesday to investigate possible drug activity.
When they arrived, agents report there were three individuals standing outside the camper. Upon seeing the policemen all reportedly attempted to flee. Two were apprehended, however the third was able to make his escape across a field and into a wooded area.
Agents noted a strong chemical odor emanating from the camper. They discovered a homemade generator outside the camper door; an item commonly used in the methamphetamine manufacturing process. With this knowledge in-hand they applied for, and were quickly granted, a search warrant for the premises. When they conducted the search agents report seizing from inside the camper rubber tubing, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, lighter fluid, salt, and corner bags along with coffee filters aluminum foil and straws that bore drug residue. Several empty boxes of pseudoephedrine were also seized into evidence.
During an interview the two suspects, Amanda Rae Cox, 33, of 73 Richardson Avenue, Leoma, and Scott Wayne Sobey, 32, of 26 Adkins Lane, Lawrenceburg, reportedly told agents what had occurred just prior to their arrival. They stated that Cox had arrived bearing pseudoephedrine pills “that they were going to use in their meth cook.” Cox told the pair that she “saw the police down the road as she was coming to the camper.” They stated that the third suspect, thirty-four-year-old Shawn Joseph Jeffries of 331 Mt. Lebanon Road, had begun grabbing items and stuffing them inside a blue bag. He then fled from the camper on foot.
The Lawrenceburg Fire Department Hazardous Materials Team arrived on the scene. Sobey and Cox were put through the decontamination process, then transported to the Lawrence County Jail.
On Wednesday deputies were summoned back to the area after an individual found a blue bag that had been discarded. Inside the bag were muriatic acid, coffee filters, peroxide, a cold pack, pseudoephedrine pills, wire pliers, wire cutters, scissors, tape, ziplock bags, aluminum foil and a funnel. Agents report “the bag is believed to be the one that Shawn Jeffries ran off with on December 29, 2009, when agents arrived at his residence.”
Jeffries was apprehended Saturday and joined his associates at the Lawrence County Jail. Jeffries, Sobey and Cox were each booked under charges of initiation of the manufacture of methamphetamine, promotion of the manufacture of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Sobey was additionally charged with possession of Lortab and possession of Xanax without prescriptions.
The trio is scheduled for an initial appearance in Lawrence County General Sessions Court on Monday, February 1, 2010.
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