|
State Police have arrested Allen Keith Carpenter, 20, of Altizer Road, Arnoldsburg and charged him with operating or attempting to operate a clandestine meth lab, with a second charge, conspiracy to operate or attempt to operate a clandestine meth lab.
Sgt. O. S. Starsick, according to the criminal complaint, conducted a traffic stop on a truck occupied by Isaac Bell, Allen K. Carpenter and Charles "Bucky" Bell, Jr.
Police said the subjects fled the vehicle on foot after turning into a private driveway, after which a number of materials and items associated with the production of meth were discovered in the truck and in the truck bed.
Among those items, Gatorade bottles, tubing and products and by-products from a meth lab.
Police said they interviewed all the subjects, being advised either that they knew about the meth lab in the truck or said the meth lab belonged to them, according to the complaint.
The complaint said one or more of the subjects admitted to purchasing psuedoephedrine medicine to assist in the production of meth.
"All three subjects stated they had been under the influence of meth during the time of the traffic stop," the complaint says.
The available complaint did not indicate charges against the Bells.
The felony charge, if convicted, calls for the guilty to be confined in a state correctional facility for not less than two years nor more than ten, or fined not less than $5,000 nor more than $20,000.
The arrest is among a handful of arrests made related to meth in Calhoun County in the past 15 years, although several arrests of Calhoun residents have been made by law enforcement in neighboring counties.
Neighboring counties have arrested several hundreds of individuals related to meth-making and its distribution.
Meth-making appears to be making a resurgence in Calhoun after a lull.
| 
