Cops Make It Bad Day For Meth Crimes

Adam Huening

The last few days have been good for local law enforcement and bad for those allegedly involved in the meth trade.

Five people were incarcerated in three separate incidents in the county in the last three days involving the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department, the Westport Police Department and the Indiana State Police.

The first of these incidents happened Tuesday. According to ISP Sgt. Chip Ayers of the Meth Suppression Unit, an investigation that lasted more than a month came to an end at the front door of the residence of Kevin Fields and Danelle Brewer at 1787 W. Co. Rd. 900 S. Through the efforts of the DCSD, WPD and ISP, Ayers said they were able to issue a search warrant for the premises. Inside, they found a meth lab and several firearms.

Brewer, 32, is charged with attempt to manufacture meth and maintaining a common nuisance, both Class D felonies. Fields, 45, was also arrested on the meth and common nuisance charges and received an additional charge of being a violent felon in possession of firearms. Ayers said Fields was on probation for a previous conviction for manufacturing meth. The firearms increase the felony charges in his case.

Early Thursday morning was also productive for local law enforcement in their fight against meth. According to Sheriff Daryl Templeton, Deputy Chris Hellmich was on patrol when he took a routine loop through Crop Production Services, located on County Road 350 West just off the bypass, where large anhydrous tanks are stored. Upon entering the parking lot, Hellmich saw an individual run from a tank. Upon investigation, the deputy realized the person was siphoning anhydrous from a large tank to a small LP tank and a cloud of gas was coming from the larger tank. After calling in the Greensburg Fire Department to control the leak, Hellmich scanned the area and discovered Timothy Snyder, 41, 1137 Pennsylvania St., Columbus, crouched down in a nearby soy bean field. Templeton said Hellmich suspected an accomplice and radioed Greensburg Police Department to be on the look out.

GPD Sgt. Eric Blodgett called in a suspicious truck parked nearby on Old State Road 46 a few minutes later. Templeton said when Hellmich and Blodgett approached the vehicle they found Daugh W. Sweet, Jr., 48, 1285 N. 500 W., Columbus, passed out inside. In the back was an LP tank.

“They woke him up and he told them he was just waiting for his buddy to come back,” Templeton said.

Sweet was charged with attempted theft of anhydrous, possession of meth, reckless possession of paraphernalia and public intoxication, which range from misdemeanors to felonies. Snyder also received the theft, paraphernalia and meth possession charges as well as an additional charge for criminal trespass. Apparently, Templeton said, Snyder was no stranger to Crop Production Services.

“The guy (Snyder) asked (Hellmich) ‘How’d you catch me?’ and Chris told him he drives through there all the time. He said, ‘Really, I’ve never seen you out there before and I’m here every night.’”

A few hours later, WPD Officer Robert Goodfellow was catching an alleged thief of his own. After receiving a report of a suspicious vehicle in the Briarwood Mobile Home Park in Westport, Goodfellow said he decided to stake out the car.

“After a while, the driver showed up. I watched him come out of bean field adjacent to the Kova Fertilizer plant,” Goodfellow said.

The officer detained the driver, later identified as Joshua Cain, but he was clean so Goodfellow let him go. However, he didn’t give up. Goodfellow said he decided to check the area where Cain had emerged from the field and found a collection of tools - from intertube hoses to pipe wrenches and altered propane tanks - used to siphon anhydrous nearby. The hose also tested positive for anhydrous, he said.

Goodfellow contacted the GPD because Cain lives in Greensburg and picked him up in the early daylight of Thursday morning. Cain, he said, was being charged with attempted theft of anhydrous, a Class D felony, which is also a violation of his parole. Cain, he said, has a previous conviction for manufacturing meth.

Both Templeton and Ayers applauded the efforts of the local law officers, especially those who used their training and dedication to the community to ensure the alleged culprits didn’t escape.

“It was very fortunate we had three officers in the right place at the right time who were able to locate and apprehend these people,” Ayers said. “This is just great street-level cop work.”

Templeton echoed those sentiments and added the night’s activities proved why Decatur County received and needs the nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fight meth.

“I think the guys do a great job and this is a good sign of what’s going on in the county. That’s why this grant is so important. These (officers) were taken off the road to deal with this situation,” Templeton said.

The grant would pay for training and three more deputies whose sole purpose would be to crack down on meth activity in the county. For the three officers Thursday morning, they spent several hours dealing with the alleged thieves, which took away from their ability to be on the road to help in other emergency situations. The grant would supply three additional deputies for meth-related activity while other officers focus on the safety of the county at large.

“I think this shows that this is such a big advantage of the grant,” Templeton said. “It’ll help the community out tremendously.”

The grant needs to be approved by the County Council, who would have to commit to pay the deputies’ salaries after two years. The council will discuss the grant in a meeting at 9 a.m. on Sept. 28.

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