Suspect gets jail in meth blast
By John Joyce
Published in News on January 18, 2013 1:46 PM
The third of four suspects in the March 2011 explosion that rocketed through the rental property that was once the Goldwater Motel in Dudley has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.
Regina Ann Rugkit, 30, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Wayne County Superior Court to the attempted manufacture of methamphetamines. She was sentenced to a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 81 months in prison, and given credit for 182 days of time already served.
Ms. Rugkit, along with three others, was charged within eight months of the March 11, 2011, blast that tore a hole through the brick facade of the converted apartment in which she and several others were apparently manufacturing meth.
Randy Arive Johnson, 29, Mount Olive, and Tracy Terrell Grady, 43, of Dudley each pleaded guilty in 2012 to charges related to the meth lab explosion, and were sentenced to more than nine years and more than eight years, respectively. They were both injured in the blast, as was Ms. Rugkit and one other man, 23-year-old Joshua Franklin Summerlin. Summerlin requested a prayer for judgment in 2012 and will have his case heard in Wayne County Court on April 2.
No other residents were injured in the blast and the judge who sentenced Ms. Rugkit, Judge John E. Nobles, has not yet assessed any financial damages, according to court documents.