Thomas Gets Fourteen Year Prison Sentence

A 29 year old man charged in a meth case last September received a fourteen year prison sentence in DeKalb County Criminal Court Tuesday.
Judge Gary McKenzie presided.
Brandon Keith Thomas of Sparta Highway, Smithville pled guilty to initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine and two violations of probation. He received an eight year sentence to serve in the meth case to run concurrently with an eight year sentence for one of the violations of probation. But the eight year term is to run consecutively with a six year sentence for the other violation of probation putting the total sentence at fourteen years. He was given 136 days of jail credit.
Thomas was one of three people involved in the case. Both he and 40 year old Shawn Renee Gibson of McMinnville were each charged with initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine. Thomas’ mother, 54 year old Sharon Renee Thomas of Sparta Highway Smithville was charged with promotion of the manufacture of meth. The cases against both Gibson and Sharon Thomas remain pending in court.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Saturday, September 20, 2014 a deputy received a tip of a possible meth lab at a residence on the Sparta Highway. Upon arrival, the deputy found the back door open and he saw Brandon Thomas inside shaking a bottle. Gibson was sitting on a bed in the room watching Thomas. The officer watched for several minutes until someone inside closed the door. The deputy then approached the home, knocked on the door, and heard a man inside say “it’s the cops”. When the back door was opened the deputy saw Brandon running out the front door. The officer called for Thomas to stop but he did not. The deputy went after Thomas and caught him in the front yard. Thomas admitted that everything in the house belonged to him and he gave consent for the officer to search. Inside Thomas and Gibson’s room, the deputy found draino, cold packs, Coleman fuel, muriatic acid, tubing and tubing with a bottle cap, coffee filters, an electric grinder, empty Claritin-D blister packs, a plastic bottle with muriatic acid, pliers, wire cutters, and digital scales.
Thomas then led the officer outside and showed him where he had disposed of a one pot cook bottle. Thomas confessed to manufacturing meth and he was placed under arrest. Gibson was also taken into custody. After being read her rights, Gibson allegedly admitted to knowing that meth was being made in the residence and participating by shaking the one pot cook bottle. In addition to the meth charge, Gibson was further issued a citation for simple possession and possession of drug paraphernalia after she was found with two valiums, two hypodermic needles, and a half ounce of marijuana.
After her son was arrested, Sharon Thomas was brought to the sheriff’s department for questioning where she admitted to purchasing Pseudoephedrine on three occasions for the purpose of her son being able to manufacture meth. She was then placed under arrest.
Meanwhile in a separate case, 24 year old Christopher Prince pled guilty to sale of a schedule II drug and received a three year sentence, suspended to supervised probation. He was fined $2,000. He is seeking judicial diversion if eligible. Prince was charged in a grand jury indictment as the result of an undercover drug investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.