Monday, July 22, 2013
Cashier Tips Authorities To Purchase Of Items Used To Make Meth
Two Waynesboro residents were taken into custody by local law enforcement officers Saturday after a cashier notified authorities that the men were purchasing items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
Officers with the Lawrenceburg Police Department made their way to the North Locust Avenue business shortly before 4:00 a.m. The cashier reported that the man who made the purchase had left earlier, but had returned and was still inside the store.
When officers confronted Jeffrey Keith Minatara, age 22, of 139 East Frank Boyd Street, Waynesboro, in the check out line, he told them he had come to the store to purchase drain cleaner for his mother.
When the officer explained the cashier’s concern regarding the items purchased, Minatara said that they had been sent by a friend to purchase the items, but that “he had never made meth.”
Officers checked the items in Minatara’s vehicle. They report finding aluminum foil, tubing, salt, Coleman fuel, storage bags, and drain cleaner. At that point Minatara admitted he had attempted to flush a pipe cutter in the bathroom after spotting the officers.
The driver, Johnny Ray Perry, Jr., 22, of 1826 Clifton Turnpike, Waynesboro, told officers that Minatara had given him gas money to drive him to the store, “but that was all he knew.” He denied all knowledge of the meth related items.
Both Minatara and Perry were placed under arrest and transported to the Lawrence County Detention Center. Both were booked under charges of promotion of the manufacture of methamphetamine. They have been scheduled an initial appearance in Lawrence County General Sessions Court on August 2, 2013.
