Several people facing methamphetamine related charges appeared for sentencing in DeKalb County Criminal Court on Friday, February 21.
Judge David Patterson presided.
44 year old Anthony Mason Adcock pled guilty to one count of initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine. He received a ten year TDOC sentence, suspended to 294 days of time served with the balance on supervised probation. The term is to run concurrently with a sentence against him in a Wilson County General Sessions Court case. Other charges against him in the indictment locally were dismissed. His probation is to be supervised by TDOC. He was fined $2,000 and he is to forfeit two-22 caliber pistols and video surveillance equipment.
43 year old Tammi Faye Adams pled guilty to initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine. She received an eight year sentence but was given credit for 156 days of time served. The remainder of the sentence has been suspended to probation. All other counts against her have been dismissed.
Adcock’s arrest on May 2, 2013 came as the result of a lengthy investigation by the Sheriff’s Department. Adams was also arrested that day along with 34 year old Shawn Bradley Patton, who was picked up for violation of parole.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said “We were able to get a search warrant on Adcock’s residence after an investigation into the illegal sale of weapons. Adcock is a convicted felon and cannot possess, buy, sell, or trade on any firearms of any kind. When we arrived at his Old Mill Hill Road address (May 2, 2013) Adcock, Adams, Patton, and three other individuals were there. While conducting the search warrant we found a .22 caliber pistol in his residence and ammunition. During the search we also found marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia such as pipes, plastic grow trays, marijuana seeds, and over 30 small marijuana plants that Adcock had growing in a plastic tote. My Department and I stopped the search and my drug detectives and I went back to the jail and obtained yet another search warrant for the marijuana, the paraphernalia, and any other controlled drugs. When we executed that search warrant for the drugs not only did we find items to manufacture marijuana with, we also found items that are consistent in the manufacture of methamphetamine such as tubing, coffee filters, turkey basters, ammonium nitrate, drain cleaner, and acid in a 20 oz soda bottle,” said Sheriff Ray.
At the time of his arrest Adcock’s money, an outside security system, and car were seized and the residence was quarantined due to the meth lab discovery.
32 year old Rhonda King pled guilty to initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine. She received an eight year sentence, all suspended to supervised probation. She was fined $2,000. King was given jail credit of 33 days.
Sheriff Ray said that on Thursday July 11 a detective of the sheriff’s department stopped a pickup truck in Dowelltown for a traffic violation. The truck, driven by King, turned west onto Highway 70 from West Main Street without stopping at a stop sign. Bradley Pugh was a passenger. After making the stop, the detective saw a straw in the console. Pugh, who is on probation, was searched and under his seat a metal container was found which held scales and methamphetamine. The rest of the vehicle was searched and found were several components used in the manufacture of methamphetamine including lithium batteries, drain opener, coffee grinder, ph strips, rock salt, empty blister packs, cut lithium batteries, used lithium strips, and a one pot plastic bottle.
After the truck was searched, Pugh gave consent for the detective to search his home, according to Sheriff Ray. The detective accompanied Pugh and King to the Dowelltown residence. At the home was King’s thirteen year old son. The detective also found two one pot bottles along with a twenty pound bag of ammonium nitrate, one gallon of muriatic acid, liquid drain opener, and a gasser. Pugh and King were arrested and brought to the jail for booking. Pugh has already been sentenced in the case.
32 year old Steven Gandy pled guilty to initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine. He received an eight year sentence, all suspended to supervised probation. He was fined $2,000. Gandy was given jail credit of 34 days.
Sheriff Ray said that on Thursday, August 29 a caretaker at a residence on Short Mountain Highway entered the home and found components used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Gandy then arrived at the home, went inside, and attempted to hide the components. A drug detective of the sheriff’s department made an investigation. The homeowner gave the detective consent to search and found were items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine including 2- one pot cook bottles, mason jars containing a bi-layered liquid; two gasser bottles, two funnels, coffee filters, plastic tubing, two bottles of crystal drain cleaner, along with other items associated with the manufacture of meth. Gandy was arrested and brought to the jail for booking.
31 year old Matthew Baker pled guilty to promotion of methamphetamine and received a three year suspended sentence. He was fined $2,000. The term is to run consecutive to a sentence he is now serving. He was given jail credit of seventy two days.
Sheriff Ray said Baker was picked up at his home on Thursday, May 9, 2013 on an outstanding state warrant against him for a violation of probation. Baker was found in his bedroom along with a bowl which contained a powdery substance believed to be meth and a plate with a powdery substance thought to be hydrocodone. Three straws, two knives, and aluminum foil containing a residue from a powdery substance were also recovered.
Meanwhile on Friday, May 10, 2013 authorities listened to a recorded telephone conversation from the jail between Baker and his wife and heard them talking about having hidden meth lab components in their house and barn. A drug detective later received consent from Mrs. Baker to search her home and there he found drain cleaner, muriatic acid, Coleman fuel, acitone, propane tanks, coffee filters, cold packs, ammonium nitrate, and several other items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine along with some finished product. Inside a child’s bedroom, the detective found about a half gram of methamphetamine in a child’s coat pocket. Mrs. Baker admitted to knowing the items were on the property and that she tried to hide them. Matthew Baker told investigators that these items belonged to him.
35 year old Sherry K. Malone pled guilty to attempted initiation of a process to manufacture meth. She received a six year sentence but was released with time served. She was fined $2,000. Malone will be on probation for the balance of her sentence, She was given jail credit of almost six months from August 7, 2013 to February 21, 2014.
Malone was one of five people arrested by the Sheriff’s Department on drug charges after a detective found a meth lab at a Smithville residence last summer.
Sheriff Ray said that on Tuesday, August 6 a drug detective went to the residence for a knock and talk. After receiving consent from the resident and homeowner to do a search, the detective found a one liter cook bottle, a 20 ounce bottle containing a bi-layered liquid, two lithium batteries, a bag of white powder believed to be Pseudoephedrine weighing 29 grams, 12 hypodermic needles, a visine bottle containing acid, and several other items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
According to Sheriff Ray, Malone admitted to the detective that the meth making components found belonged to her. The others were charged because they were in the same room where the items were located.
31 year old Brandon Gurley pled guilty to initiation of a process to manufacture meth. He received an eight year sentence to serve at 30% before his release eligibility date. He was fined $2,000.
Gurley was among thirty three people named in sealed indictments by a special called session of the grand jury in August 3013 after a lengthy investigation by the Sheriff’s Department into the illegal sale of narcotics and other crimes committed in DeKalb County
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