LATEST ARRESTS MAKES NOW OVER TWO DOZEN INDIVIDUALS APPREHENDED WITH POTENT METHAMPHETAMINE IN LAWRENCE COUNTY IN LAST SIX WEEKS;
DRUG NOW MORE PREVALENT THAT ANY OTHER ILLEGAL NARCOTICS IN LOCAL AREA, AS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS WARN METH #1 ILLEGAL DRUG THREAT IN KY
JULY 10, 2017 – written by WADE QUEEN
A trio of Lawrence County residents, along with a Carter County man, were arrested after an early Friday afternoon traffic stop by deputies of the Lawrence County Sheriff Department, for a observed suspected DUI, that also instead, led to the discovery of all four individuals being in possession of methamphetamines.
The names of the suspects, Shannon L. Jude, 40, April Ann Harper, 33, and Sherry Bowen, 31, of Louisa, along with Michael Earnest Pennington, 31, of Grayson, were taken into custody for possessing the meth drugs, along with other related charges.
Shannon Jude has lengthy criminal record, with his latest arrest now makes 15 times on 20 criminal charges Jude has been arrested in the last 14 years, mostly misdemeanors. Eleven of those arrests were in Lawrence County, two in Boyd County, one in Pike County, and one in Leslie County
But Michael Earnest Pennington, who along with his father, who has the same name, as the younger Pennington has been arrested on a double digit number of times on dozens of charges in the last 12 years in several eastern Kentucky counties, many of which are felonies. (His father has an even bigger criminal record, with dozens of arrests on over a hundred criminal charges in the last 15 years in numerous eastern Kentucky counties, a lot of them of which are serious felonies).
[ In fact the name “Michael Pennington” comes back to show over a half dozen men or so with 85 arrests on triple numbers of criminal offenses across Kentucky, just since early 2002 ].
Shannon L. Jude, 40, of Louisa, was arrested on July 7, 2017, at 1:41 P.M., by chief deputy Mark Wheeler of the Lawrence County Sheriff Department, and was charged with: • POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE (METHAMPHETAMINE), • DRUG PARAPHERNALIA – BUY/POSSESS, • PAROLE VIOLATION (FOR TECHNICAL VIOLATION).
Sherry Bowen, 31, of Louisa, was arrested on July 7, 2017, at 1:41 P.M., by chief deputy Mark Wheeler of the Lawrence County Sheriff Department, and was charged with: • POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE (METHAMPHETAMINE), • DRUG PARAPHERNALIA – BUY/POSSESS.
April Ann Harper, 33, of Louisa, was arrested on July 7, 2017, at 1:41 P.M., by chief deputy Mark Wheeler of the Lawrence County Sheriff Department, and was charged with: • POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE (METHAMPHETAMINE), • DRUG PARAPHERNALIA – BUY/POSSESS.
Michael Earnest Pennington, 31, of Grayson, was arrested on July 7, 2017, at 1:41 P.M., by sergeant Chuck Jackson of the Lawrence County Sheriff Department, and was charged with: DRUG PARAPHERNALIA – BUY/POSSESS ( TWO SEPARATE COUNTS ), • OPERATING MOTOR VEHICLE UNDER/INFLUENCE ALCOHOL/DRUGS/ETC. .08 – 3RD OFFENSE, • POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE (METHAMPHETAMINE).
All four individuals were taken to and lodged at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville, were they are still incarcerated as of Monday morning.
The arrest of this group is the latest in methamphetamine possession arrests in Lawrence County, making over two dozen cases since late May.
it is now evident that this new generation of meth drug product has overtaken locally to become the biggest threat than even the prescription pills blight, and all other other illegal narcotic drug racketeering businesses.
And it is not just Lawrence County; the whole state is awash in the brand new type of pure, potent “professional” crystal ice methamphetamine.
METH NOW WALTER WHITE-WASHING ACROSS THE ENTIRE STATE
According to a recent report via Lexington news station WKYT, the meth drug trade has exploded throughout Kentucky.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” according to Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird, when he states about the overwhelming amount of crystal methamphetamine his department is seeing.
The crystal methamphetamine many counties in Kentucky are seeing is a purer form than the days of the old meth labs. “It’s very addictive,” Chief Bird said. “More addictive than the stuff we saw years ago.” Chief Byrd, when displaying the latest delivery from the forensic lab, stated that the majority of the evidence was crystal meth.
Chief Bird said the forensic lab call it “Ice”, because it looks like ice crystals. He said it makes users paranoid. In the last year, the number of foot pursuits and car chases skyrocketed for Williamsburg police. “It’s everywhere. Everywhere we go. It’s crystal meth, crystal meth.”
Up the interstate, Madison County is dealing with the same problem. “We seize meth almost two-to-one compared to heroin,” Richmond Police Commander Bob Mott said. Mott said the supply of meth has changed the game. It’s coming from Mexico. “We’re seeing it coming out of Louisville and it’s always come out of the Atlanta area.”
“Meth, you can buy it all day long for $100 or less a gram,” Commander Mott said. “The market’s just been flooded with crystal meth so that’s driven the price down and put the lab people out of business.”
Jeremy Triplett, a supervisor at Kentucky State Forensic Lab said, “If you can get it to crystallize, that means there’s not a lot of contaminants.” The state lab now see crystal meth at 95% potency. “It’s all crystalline now. You never see just the really junky meth we used to see.” One out of three cases studied at the state lab is crystal meth. “You can clearly see there’s a bigger industry at play,” Triplett said. “Meth is clearly the number one drug in Kentucky right now.”
This maybe the future for Lawrence County. Eleven years ago, a man who was high on homemade lab meth open gunfire on in a shootout that nearly killed Sheriff Garrett Roberts, chief deputy mark Wheeler, another deputy, and a constable.
Now with the new potent pure ice meth coming from across the US border to cities throughout the country, to neighboring cities, and now reaching down even down to Lawrence County and the surrounding areas, that causes addicts and users to potentially become even more violent that in the old days when meth was produced with cheap materials in local labs, the times ahead for Lawrence County just made becoming…’breaking bad’.
