METH MENANCE: COLD PILLS FUEL WV'S METH EPIDEMIC

(12/16/2013)
Meth Menace Part I: From meds to meth

wvgazette.com

CHARLESTON - In the weeks before their arrest, Jennifer Boggs and Jennifer Funk went on a shopping spree for cold medicines used to clear up stuffy noses and make illegal methamphetamine.

Boggs and Funk shopped at Walmart, Target, Meds-2-Go Express and Rite Aid stores from Charleston to Huntington, records show. They bought Sudafed 12 Hour, Allegra D, Sunmark and Health Mart brands -- nasal decongestants containing pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in meth.

And then they checked into Room 217 at the Economy Inn in Nitro.

On Nov. 21, Nitro police, acting on an anonymous tip, conducted a "knock and talk" at Room 217.

Inside, they found Boggs and Funk, along with an 18-month-old boy. There were bugs everywhere. Officers found beakers, rubber tubing, scales, razor blades, bags of red phosphorous, syringes, sulfuric acid, coffee filters, bulk matches and empty blister packs of pseudoephedrine cold medicine tucked into a box of Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal.

Boggs and Funk were charged with attempting to operate a meth lab ...

Read rest of story   Meth Menace Part I: From meds to meth   by Eric Eyre and David Gutman for the Charleston Gazette