Police attempting to serve a warrant Friday night didn’t find the woman they were looking for, but they said they did find a drug manufacturing operation producing marijuana and methamphetamine.
Officers of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department arrested Amber Blevins, 22, and Ricky Shafer II, 30, both of 169 Mays Road, and charged each of them with promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, initiation of process to manufacture methamphetamine, manufacture of Schedule VI drugs, felony possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of Schedule VI drugs and maintaining a dwelling where narcotics are manufactured. Shafer was served also with an outstanding warrant charging him with domestic assault and vandalism.
Around 10 p.m. Friday, CCSD Lt. Penny Garland and Deputy Mark McClain went to the home at 169 Mays Road hoping to serve a warrant on a woman. Blevins came to the door and told officers the woman they were looking for was not home and asked whether they could come back the next day. Blevins acted suspiciously, Garland said, so officers entered the home to search for the wanted woman.
As officers searched inside the home, Garland opened a closet door, where she said she saw several marijuana plants growing. When Garland searched a bathroom in the home, she found even more marijuana plants.
McClain then searched the back porch, where he said he found not only a marijuana plant but also items used to manufacture methamphetamine.
The officers then detained Blevins as well as Shaffer, who was in the home, and contacted CCSD Investigator Myles Cook with the drug investigation unit. Cook responded to the home, where he said he also saw the marijuana plants and meth lab components.
The officers then took Blevins and Shafer to the Carter County Detention Center and turned a child who was in the home over the custody of a relative.
Cook said he spoke with Blevins at the jail and she admitted the marijuana plants were hers. She denied any involvement in the manufacture of meth, he said.
During his interview with Blevins, Cook asked her for permission to conduct a full search of the home and she refused. Cook said he then obtained a search warrant and returned to the home, where he found numerous drug items including 10 potted marijuana plants, four one-pot methamphetamine cooking devices, nine methamphetamine acid gas generators, smoking devices and several items needed to cook meth.
Police also found 12 glass jars that Cook said he believed to be an illegal mushroom-growing operation, as well as notebooks containing detailed instructions on cooking meth and growing techniques for marijuana and illegal mushrooms.
Additional charges of manufacturing Schedule I drugs against Blevins and Shafer are pending at this time, Cook said, adding he is waiting for test results from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation before proceeding with charges related to the mushroom growing operation.
Both Blevins and Shafer were arraigned in General Sessions Court on Monday where they were each given a $5,000 corporate bond by Judge Keith Bowers Jr. The two are next scheduled to appear in court on March 6.