Police arrest six after raid on Corbin meth lab

A meth lab bust Friday afternoon resulted in a chain reaction of events over the weekend that lead to the arrests of a total of five adults and one juvenile on various drug related charges.
“I’ll send the message to all of them. If you go out here, and get juveniles and little kids high out of these schools, we are going to come and get you. We don’t care who gets busted in the process that is how all this started is with them getting a kid high with meth,” said Sheriff Lawrence Hodge.
Hodge said his department received information from a confidential informant Friday about a possible meth lab at 147 Dusty Lane, near Corbin, and conducted a raid about 1 p.m. at Dustin Clark’s residence.
“Upon entry of the residence deputies found in plain site a pie plate with white powder and syringes on a counter top in the kitchen. Deputies then secured Clark and Andrew Laschon until a full search of the residence could be made,” Hodge said in a press release.
Deputies found all the components necessary in manufacturing methamphetamine, and recovered one and one half ounces of finished meth, officials said. Because the lab wasn’t working at the time, deputies didn’t have to contact a region hazardous materials team.
Hodge said that officers had received information about a lab on the premises on two other occasions in the last nine months, but weren’t able to locate a lab during previous attempts. The latest information indicated that a batch of meth had been made the night prior to the raid, which Hodge said apparently was the case considering how much meth was recovered from the residence.
In addition to the meth, deputies also discovered recipes for manufacturing PCP or Angel Dust, and other synthetic drugs.
“The PCP recipes really concern us. It is very, very dangerous. It looks like a chemist wrote it. I don’t know if they have been manufacturing PCP or not, but we do have a recipe for it,” Hodge added.
In a green gallon jug, officers discovered a frozen unknown substance. Samples were taken of the substance, and will be sent off to the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab for identification, officials said.
After deputies discovered the unknown substance, they contacted Williamsburg Police Detective Wayne Bird to assist with the disassembly of the lab, and to help identify the substance.
Hodge said Monday that he still isn’t sure what the substance is, but knows that it will not refreeze.
“It was just a typical dope house,” Hodge said. “Also found was a debit sheet of everyone that had purchased or charged meth from the residence. Deputies also found Xanax, marijuana seeds, and other drug paraphernalia.”
He added that this was one of the bigger labs found in the county, and that this may be the most finished product deputies have ever found at a local meth lab.
Both Clark and Laschon, 18, of 151 Sheila Circle, Williamsburg, were charged with manufacturing of methamphetamine and possession of a controlled substance.
They were arrested without incident, and lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.
Laschon claims that he knew nothing about the drugs, and that he had just spent the night at a friend’s house.
Officers taking part in the Friday raid included: Hodge, Chief Deputy Tim Shelley, Capt. Todd Shelley, Corporal Jerry Noe, and Bird.
Hodge said that information obtained from the arrests led Bird and Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Scott Lake to the Whitley County Jail the following day.
About 11 a.m. Saturday, Bird and Lake spotted a vehicle they were looking for when it arrived for a visit with Clark at the jail.
After stopping the vehicle, Bird and Lake observed a 15-year-old juvenile inside along with the driver of the vehicle, David K. Rush, 48, of 662 Barton Mill Cut-Off Road in Corbin.
A search of the vehicle turned up about two grams of methamphetamine, and three Lorcets, Hodge said in a press release.
The juvenile was placed under arrested, and taken to a juvenile detention facility.
Police charged Rush with second-degree possession of a controlled substance. He was also served with an arrest warrant charging him with manufacturing methamphetamine and first-degree possession of a controlled substance, Hodge said.
Following those arrests, police went back to Dusty Lane where OxyContin was purchased during a controlled undercover buy. Police then raided the residence of Danny Ray McGinnis, 48, of 8810 Cumberland Falls Highway, and charged McGinnis with second-degree possession of a controlled substance.
“This arrest led officers to a public parking lot in South Corbin off of I-75 where an order was placed for OxyContin and RoxyContin by McGinnis that would be intercepted by the sheriff’s department, which placed two plain clothes deputies in a nearby restaurant and other units in the surrounding area,” Hodge said in a press release.
In the parking lot, police arrested Troy D. Rice, 36, of 100 Lon Chadwell Road, Corbin, and charged him with trafficking in a controlled substance.
Rush, McGinnis, and Rice were all lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.
“The investigation is continuing, and several more arrests are expected,” Hodge said.
In all, over the weekend officers seized 125 schedule two narcotics, which had a street value of about $6,000, in addition to one and one-half ounce of methamphetamine, which sells for about $100 per gram.
Rush pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of a controlled substance during his arraignment Monday morning before District Judge Cathy Prewitt, and was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
Rice and Clark pleaded not guilty during their arraignments. Prewitt scheduled a March 13 preliminary hearing in both cases.
In addition, police also confiscated various weapons, vehicles, and cash.
Officers taking part in the weekend investigations, which took place from 11:3- a.m. through 8 p.m. Saturday, included: Hodge, Lake, Cpl. Dennis Foley, Deputy Ben Hodge, Deputy Josh Meadors, and Bird.