Meth lab found in local hotel room
By John Joyce
Published in News on January 15, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
A member of the clandestine drug lab unit removes evidence from the site of a meth lab raid at the Irish Inn Wednesday.
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Jessica Averi Gibson
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Charles Richard Hill
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Brian Clayton McCormick
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Christopher Scott Sharp
The Wayne County Drug Squad said a meth lab it took down inside a Goldsboro motel Wednesday posed a real threat to the area, not necessarily because of the meth the suspects were manufacturing, but because of all the chemicals used in the process.
Four people have been charged and two dogs were seized from Room 218 of the Irish Inn at 1104 Sunburst Drive.
The dogs were later turned over to a family member.
Christopher Scott Sharp, 22, 120 Covey Drive, is charged with three counts of probation violation and a single count of manufacturing methamphetamine.
Sharp was placed in the Wayne County Jail under a $155,000 secured bond.
Three other suspects, Brian Clayton McCormick, 22, 116 Ginger Drive, Charles Richard Hill, 23, 1104 Sunburst Drive, Room 213, and Jessica Averi Gibson, 30, 1104 Sunburst Drive, are each charged with a single count of manufacturing methamphetamine. They have each been given a bond of $125,000 secured.
Sgt. Matt Miller said a warrant squad deputy had been called to the hotel to serve a warrant on one of the subjects staying in Room 218. When the occupants opened the door, the deputy was alerted by what he smelled and what he saw and he notified the drug squad.
"I came in, took a look around, noticed we had some of the makings of what you could call a meth lab. I got out and secured the door while another officer went to secure a search warrant," Miller said.
Miller stood outside in the cold watching the door for nearly an hour before crime scene tape could be strung up and block access.
Once the warrant was secured and with the suspects already in custody, two drug squad officers and an agent from the State Bureau of Investigation Clandestine Drug Lab Unit donned gas masks and entered Room 218.
Inside they found, trash, debris, children's toys and several components of a meth lab.
Neighbors said they never saw any children come in or go out of the room.
"It looks to be the condensed method," Miller said. He held up soda bottles with tubes coming and going from them.
"These are the hydrogen chloride generators," he said.
Miller stopped short of providing a blueprint on just how to manufacture meth, saying the substances are condensed from a liquid to a gas and from a gas to a salt. As this process is repeated, the solids that are left over become meth.
"There is no one way to do it. These people aren't chemists. It's kind of like when you're learning to cook and your grandmother tells you to start with two eggs and a half a cup of flour. The recipe gets told to one guy and then he passes it on and so on," he said.
The process is essentially taking one molecule from pseudoephedrine -- the substance found in cold medicines commonly purchased for the sole purpose of manufacturing meth -- and moving it over, Miller added.
Along with the soda bottles and hoses, Miller and Cpl. Chuck Shaeffer pulled from the room countless sheets of aluminum foil, glass pipes, chemicals and other components including butane torches. Inside the suspects vehicle where a gas can and a propane tank.
Miller said there was a real danger to neighboring guests in the hotel with all that had been going on in Room 218.
"Oh yeah. Oh man, yeah. Did you see all those butane torches we pulled out of there? All it would have took was one slip up."
It was too early in the investigation to determine if the four charged with making the meth were selling it or using it for personal consumption, but small plastic bags were present.
The drug squad and SBI worked well into the night cataloguing the evidence and neutralizing the chemicals to make them safe for transport.
"When we start moving these chemicals around they can react, like (Miller) said earlier about them 'gassing off,'" the SBI agent said. He asked not to be identified due to the nature of his work.
"So we have to be very careful about how we separate things, and then store them for transportation back to our lab for testing," he said.
As far as the quantity or quality of the meth, Shaeffer said there were just too many bits of evidence left to test before he could say for sure.
"There are so many residue amount bags and unknown powders. We haven't tested it (all) yet."