|
Sheriff’s Office, SBI seize county’s largest meth lab
By Rose Hooper
In what he called the “largest meth lab operation we’ve seen in this county,” Sheriff Jimmy Ashe arrested David William Norman, 33, Tuesday afternoon on charges of “possession of immediate precursor for chemical weapons of mass destruction.”
David William Norman
“This was a true, high-level operation, what we call a ‘Nazi’ lab, with every component in sequence,” Ashe said.
During the bust, he seized a five-gallon bucket of an “unknown substance,” which Ashe thinks is meth oil.
Members of an SBI clandestine lab team removed lab materials and chemicals from the David Norman residence Tuesday (May 18) at the intersection of Poplar Drive and Dillardtown Road in what Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe termed the largest meth lab operation he’s seen in the county.
“If it tests positive for that, then this is a grand-scale operation and the Feds will probably take the case,” the sheriff said.
Currently Norman is charged with maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance, which is a felony. Norman is also charged with possession with intent to sell/ manufacture a controlled substance.
“Depending on the test results of the liquid sludge, more charges, including trafficking in meth, could be filed,” said Ashe, who also anticipates further arrests in this case.
Because of the size and full-blown operation of the meth lab, Sheriff’s officers evacuated close neighbors and shut down Dillardtown Road for eight-tenths of a mile around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Norman’s residence is at the intersection of Poplar Drive and Dillardtown Road, Ashe said.
The State Bureau of Investigation assisted in the bust and Sylva firefighters and WestCare EMS were on hand.
Norman remains in Jackson County Jail under a $70,000 bond.
|
