An investigator with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force sorts through items in the back of a Ford F-150 pickup truck Wednesday on Elbert Lane. The contents of the truck's bed were suspected to include the ingredients and equipment needed to produce methamphetamine.

Three people were arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection to the discovery of what authorities called a rolling methamphetamine lab after two traffic stops on U.S. 411 South.

Teresa Lynn Coada, 51, Lake City; Boyd Eugene Cable, 45, Greenback; and Helen Michelle Brewster, 37, Lenoir City, were all taken into custody at about 2:30 p.m. As of Wednesday evening none of the three had been formally charged. But according to information from the Blount County Sheriff's Office, charges of promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine are pending against Coada and Cable.

Brewster -- who was allegedly driving the truck identified as the rolling methamphetamine lab -- is facing pending charges of initiating a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine and possession of a Schedule II substance (methamphetamine).

Share

Print This / Email This

Comments

412th incident... its only September.

-- Posted by Nathan Nelson on Thu, Sep 18, 2008, 12:40 pm EDT (Report this)

You must log in and verify your email address before you can post a comment. After registering, Click here to verify your email address.

Login | Register

Suspected rolling meth lab reaches dead end; three arrested on charges

By Mark Boxley
of The Daily Times Staff

Originally published: September 18. 2008 3:01AM
Last modified: September 17. 2008 10:19PM

Three people were arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection to the discovery of what authorities called a rolling methamphetamine lab after two traffic stops on U.S. 411 South.

Teresa Lynn Coada, 51, Lake City; Boyd Eugene Cable, 45, Greenback; and Helen Michelle Brewster, 37, Lenoir City, were all taken into custody at about 2:30 p.m. As of Wednesday evening none of the three had been formally charged. But according to information from the Blount County Sheriff's Office, charges of promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine are pending against Coada and Cable.

Brewster — who was allegedly driving the truck identified as the rolling methamphetamine lab — is facing pending charges of initiating a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine and possession of a Schedule II substance (methamphetamine). Warrants were to be served on the three suspects late Wednesday, according to the Blount County Sheriff's Office. Bond amounts and court dates had not been set for the three suspects Wednesday evening.

A fourth individual, Daisy Mae Sturgill, 38, Sweetwater, was cited with possession of a Schedule II substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was a passenger in Brewster's vehicle and was released at the scene.

Investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force were alerted to the presence of suspicious persons shopping for products containing pseudoephedrine at a Blount County pharmacy at about noon, according to the sheriff's office. Narcotics officers responded to the call and followed the individuals to other businesses around Blount County before the traffic stop was conducted at a location on U.S. 411 South.

During the course of the investigation, a traffic stop was made on a second vehicle a short time later at Elbert Lane and U.S. Highway 411 South. The vehicle, a black Ford F-150 pickup truck with Loudon County tags, contained all of the precursors and equipment needed to manufacture methamphetamine, according to the sheriff's office. The two traffic stops are related to the same incident.

Members of the Drug Task Force were seen wearing hazmat suits as they started to go through the contents of the truck's bed at the scene Wednesday, and a Blount County Fire Department hazmat truck was on the scene along with a Rural/Metro Ambulance Service vehicle.

In addition to the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force -- which is composed of officers and deputies from the Blount County Sheriff's Office, the Maryville Police Department and the Alcoa Police Department -- personnel from the Blount County Fire Department, Greenback Volunteer Fire Department and Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force also responded to the scene.

At least one of the three people arrested was decontaminated by members of the Blount County Fire Department at the scene.

Investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Wednesday's incident was the 412th methamphetamine case in Tennessee so far this year. In 2007, there were fewer than 400 total methamphetamine cases in the state.