Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jan 2004
Source: Tullahoma News (TN)
Copyright: The Tullahoma News 2004
Contact:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=49033&BRD=1614&PAG=461&dept_id=161070&
Website: http://www.tullahomanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2031
Author: Wayne Thomas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

ALLEGED "TINKLE LAB" IS FOUND

Bell alleges that he found what the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency
calls "a tinkle meth lab" which means the drug is made from human
urine, at a fire at a residence on Water Tank Road in Cowan. Franklin
County Deputy Ross Peterson received a call from former Deputy Paul
Sanson who now works for Rural Metro Ambulance Service that an
individual wanted on sealed indictments was in the emergency room at
Southern Tennessee Medical Center with burns to his arms and face.

When Peterson arrived, he found Kenneth Darrel Hobgood, 43, and
arrested him on indictments issued by the September 2003 term of the
Franklin County Grand Jury of manufacturing of Schedule II, felonious
possession of Schedule II and felonious possession of drug
paraphernalia. Peterson then transported Hobgood back to where he had
been living at 734 Water Tank Rd, Cowan that had caught on fire
Wednesday morning. The Fourth District Fire Department had responded
to a fire call of a travel trailer on fire at the address around 6:50
a.m. When the firefighters arrived, the trailer was fully engulfed.
When Peterson and Deputy Seth Isbell arrived at the scene of the fire,
he requested Sheriff's Investigator Lt. Robert Campbell to respond to
the scene. "Lt. Campbell is a trained fire investigator and I wanted
him to look at the scene," Peterson said. Peterson alleged that he
"started to smell an odor that resembled that of methamphetamines." He
then requested Bell, who is a certified meth lab technician, to
respond to the fire. Bell and the other officers began to survey the
property where the travel trailer was parked and they allege that they
found items used in the production of methamphetamines. Bell decided
that an allegedly methamphetamine lab had been in operation at the
residence. He then requested assistance from the Federal Drug
Enforcement Agency, which dispatched a hazardous materials unit to the
scene. "We found a five gallon bucket with something that we later
identified as human urine," Bell stated. "I have heard of people
making methamphetamines by using urine, but I think this is the first
time we have actually found one here." Bell explained that the "Tinkle
Labs" are made with human urine. "The 'cookers' make the individuals
who have allegedly been using methamphetamines to return with their
urine. He (cooker) then goes to his 'lab' and through a chemical
process retrieves extracts the drugs that didn't metabolize. As part
of the deal with the alleged cooker the individual promise to return
with urine for processing again. He then resells the processed
product," Bell said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin