Five arrested on meth charges in Duplin
By Nelson Bland
Published in News on October 21, 2009 1:46 PM
Five people were arrested Saturday on methamphetamine charges after a Duplin County sheriff's deputy on another call discovered a meth lab near Mount Olive.
Sheriff Blake Wallace said Deputy Joseph Kennedy, who was checking a suspicious vehicle report, saw something that made him suspicious and checked the residence, discovering the lab.
The arrests were made at a one-story brick home on Garners Chapel Road about eight miles southeast of Mount Olive, where meth was in the process of being cooked in an outbuilding.
When Kennedy talked with one man at the home about the suspicious vehicle, he was told about the operation going on inside, Wallace said.
Wallace explained that a resident of the area had called about a suspicious vehicle that had been parked behind a building on the caller's property. But when Kennedy arrived, the car had been moved to a nearby house where the arrests were made.
Kennedy said while he was checking the vehicle, he saw a bag of ammonium nitrate, a known ingredient of methamphetamine, behind the front seat.
Another deputy, Richard Strickland, arrived at the scene and he and Kennedy were talking to Teddy Alan Moody, 32, when Moody told them there was another person inside the house and three others in an outside building where the meth was being made.
The five suspects were placed under arrest and none offered any resistance, Kennedy said.
Charged were Gary Warren King, 29, of 2020 Garners Chapel Road, Mount Olive; Moody, of 390 Thigpen Dairy Road, Mount Olive; Rayanna L. Patin, 24, of 330 Sanderson Road, Seven Springs; Ralph Clayton Carter, 34, of 513 Garners Chapel Road, Mount Olive; and Erica Taylor Southerland, 29, of 4063 N. Hwy. 111, Albertson.
The suspects were each booked for possession of methamphetamine, manufacture of methamphetamine and possession and distribution of methamphetamine.
King was also charged with two counts of maintaining a dwelling for a keeping and selling marijuana and methamphetamine.
The suspects were held in the Duplin County Jail. King was placed under a $1 million secured bond, while the others were jailed under $800,000 secured bonds each.
"These arrests go back to Kennedy's training and decision to follow through with an investigation," Wallace said. "I commend deputies Kennedy and Strickland for their work in particular. If it had not been for the extra work of Deputy Kennedy following up on this, a meth lab may have gone undetected, and there's no telling how much meth would be back on the street."
Other recent drug arrests included Ore Gray Futrell, 22, 147 S. Williams Road, Beulaville, and Justin Travis Becton, 26, 2793 Sky Lane, Deep Run, each of whom was charged Tuesday for possession of liquid methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession/distribution of "pill wash," a precursor for making meth.
Wallace said Deputy Kevin Williams was on routine patrol near Beulaville when he noticed a car crossing the center line and moving erratically. Williams stopped the car and found syringes with "liquid meth" in them in the vehicle.
The suspects were jailed under $10,000 bonds each.
Deputies also seized a late model Toyota truck in making the arrest.
In addition, as a result of an undercover drug operation by the sheriff's drug task force unit, the following arrests were made recently:
* Freddie Orlando Menje Martinez, 30, 117 Wilmington Court Apartments, Wallace, three counts of trafficking in cocaine; possession of cocaine; and maintaining a vehicle for cocaine.
Deputies seized the vehicle, a Chevrolet Trail Blazer.
Martinez was jailed under a $100,000 bond.
* Bobby Ray McFadden, 30, 114 Brown Terrace, Rose Hill, and Kevin Smith Jr. 24, 158 Edd Carr Lane, Rose Hill, each of whom was booked on two counts of trafficking in cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to sell and deliver.
Smith was also charged with maintaining a mobile home for the purpose of selling cocaine.
Bonds were set at $80,000 for Smith and $50,000 for McFadden.
Deputies also seized drugs with a street value of more than $5,000 in making all the arrests.