Motel room meth lab
Man faces charges of making dangerous drug at Budget Inn
He was quiet and clean-cut. He had been staying at the Budget Inn on Fain Road in North Charleston for about six months. He was a construction worker, and his boss picked him up for work every day.
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Meth Lab
Authorities responded to a suspected meth lab at the Budget Inn on North Charleston's Fain Road Wednesday morning, Oct. 22.
That's how motel management described the man in room 132, where an active methamphetamine lab was discovered Wednesday shortly before 10 a.m.
North Charleston police were responding to a tip regarding a suspect with outstanding warrants from the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services when they happened upon the lab, Maj. Coyle Kinard said.
The man was arrested without incident and taken to a hospital as a precaution for exposure to chemicals, Kinard said.
Adjacent rooms were evacuated, and an agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in a white hazardous materials suit emptied the room of its contents. The North Charleston Fire Department stood by with a hazmat unit and engine. EMS also was on the scene.
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Police could not confirm the extent of the operation or whether methamphetamine was being sold from the motel, Kinard said.
Police have charged Guy Alan Moreland, 49, of Summerville with manufacturing methamphetamine.
Wednesday's arrest came on the heels of a significant meth bust and drug dealer round-up in the Upstate. Surprise raids began Tuesday, and the joint law enforcement effort led to the arrest of 28 people, according to Attorney General Henry McMaster.
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant often made in makeshift labs in homes, hotels and even cars. Chuvalo Truesdell, public information officer for the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said labs are extremely dangerous because of the volatile and toxic chemicals used to make the drug, including ether, gas and lithium from batteries.
The Post and Courier
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent removes evidence from a room at the Budget Inn in North Charleston on Wednesday after police found a meth lab in the room.
"Those folks passing recipes around aren't chemists," he said. "They don't say a spark could send the place up in flames."
After a lab is discovered, local authorities contact the DEA to request a cleanup. The DEA, in turn, calls out a service that specializes in clearing hazardous sites. Carpeting, wallboard and fabric can absorb the chemicals.
This would be the third such request this month to originate from Charleston County, said Sue Allen, resident agent in charge of the DEA Charleston Resident Office.
Cleanup can be particularly difficult for apartment buildings or hotels because labs can put the whole structure at risk, Truesdell said. Meth labs can be noticed by the chemical odor and by the suspects' smoking outside, he said.
Assistant motel manager Nick Peto watched as a DEA agent placed plastic hampers, Mason jars of pink and white solutions and bleach bottles outside the room.
"We'll have to strip out and clean the room professionally," he said. "Something like this has never happened before."
Meth lab activity
Since October 2007, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has received 24 requests for the cleanup of methamphetamine labs in Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties.
BERKELEY: Nine
DORCHESTER: Eight
CHARLESTON: Seven (not including Wednesday's request)
Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
moonpie (anonymous) says...
Wow this backs up to Tanger, could have been real bad. Throw the book at him!
October 23, 2008 at 6:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Grinder (anonymous) says...
Gee, an OUTLET mall meth lab? They got everything here!
October 23, 2008 at 7:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
follygirl (anonymous) says...
Maybe a dumb question, but where was the housekeeping servcie daily? Did they not see anything funky? I dont know anything about meth labs, but I would think the stuff isnt something you stick under the bed each morning before you leave.....
October 23, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ms_lady2u (anonymous) says...
Adjacent rooms have been vacant for a decade at that Slum Village!
October 23, 2008 at 7:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
counterpoint (anonymous) says...
Now I have a GREAT place to stash the in-laws when they come to town!
Who needs meth when you can buy Red Bull in 4-packs???
October 23, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JLWDALFAN (anonymous) says...
a construction worker. i can understand the need for a second income with the housing market the way it is. lol
October 23, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
NumbersSCcom (anonymous) says...
As long as Lindsey Graham is in office and the borders stay open, we'll have more meth and more meth labs. The ingredients for meth that are forbidden here are coming across the border.
Of course, Lindsey Graham doesn't care as long as the corporations get their slave labor. Lindsey wants to know who will pluck our chickens at $12.00 an hour if not for the illegal aliens. Forget the law, he says, let's let in more criminals and drugs.
Welcome to Lindsey Graham's Twilight Zone!
October 23, 2008 at 8:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
newto843 (anonymous) says...
I am all too familiar with these labs. I hope the Charleston area authorities are able to stomp this out before it becomes anything like out west. Just wait until you have a meth lab next door and see what that does to the neighborhood.
October 23, 2008 at 8:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
My_Opinion (anonymous) says...
This is no where near the Tanger Outlet, it's surrounded by other "junk" motels and chances are the house keepers are illegal imagrints..... welcome to Charleston
October 23, 2008 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eyfigueroa (anonymous) says...
hey! I like Evil Genius. lol
October 23, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
armymom (anonymous) says...
If so, he may have been evil, but not much of a genius!
October 23, 2008 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
katrenavantassle (anonymous) says...
"Meth labs can be noticed by the chemical odor and by the suspects' smoking outside, he said.
It is most definately THE SMELL OF THE CHEMICALS!
How someone could be mixing all those chemicals and no one complain is beyond me. I can smell the smoke in the air when my neighbors burn leaves or light their fireplace...so I know people smell those chemicals.
SOME PEOPLE SMOKE OUTSIDE of hotels, that have NON-SMOKING rooms are NORMAL...but in seedy motels...like the Budget Inn on Fain Street is a clue. This street runs behind Carey Hillards off Rivers Avenue, all the way to Aviation Avenue. Its mostly a business/construction area. FYI, Everyone who smokes, that lives in my house ONLY CAN SMOKE OUTSIDE... does that mean we have a Meth lab inside our home? Definately not. We have children/non-smokers who we don't want to breathe our second hand smoke so we go out onto the porch.
I guess it could give them a idea that they can suspect something going on. The housekeepers at the hotel should have been the first to notice something...but if they were afraid of being wrong and loosing their jobs they would keep their mouths shut Or if they were illegals then that too would be a reason for them not to want to say anything even though they could be risking their own (and others) lives by not telling.
October 23, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
armymom (anonymous) says...
My boss was saying that when you rent a motel room for long periods of time you can request that the housekeepers not come in. "I can make my own bed, thanks".
October 23, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ReasonSpeaks (anonymous) says...
Numbers is incorrect. The ingredients for crystal meth (as well Ecstasy) are readily available in the U.S. and do not need to be smuggled across the border. Any legal citizen can make their own with out the help of illegal aliens.
October 23, 2008 at 11:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rock_steady (anonymous) says...
Meth labs, not just a Summerville thing any more. Who would have thought there were drugs being manufactured in that fine, well to do city?
October 23, 2008 at 1:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rock_steady (anonymous) says...
Idon't see what his bond will be in the story. Will it be $474.00 like the guy who hit and killed Randy Bales on his motorcycle? Or $100,000 like the lady defending herself at the Walmart who did not take a life? Judges, WAKE UP!!!
October 23, 2008 at 1:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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