Pubdate: Mon, 04 Apr 2005
Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
Copyright: 2005 Charleston Daily Mail
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MANY SUSPECTS NO STRANGERS TO TROUBLE

WINFIELD -- On March 12, police believe Kenneth Allen Parsons was
running a methamphetamine drug lab out of his Scott Depot home. It was
the fourth lab police say he was responsible for in the past 11 months.

Just the month before, Parsons had pleaded guilty to operating a lab
in May 2004. While he was on bond awaiting court hearings in that
case, Parsons allegedly operated labs out of a car he was driving in
Kanawha County and another out of his Scott Depot home.

According to Putnam County prosecutors, it's a consistent problem with
people associated with methamphetamine. Meth defendants continue to
make and use the drug, they say.

Parsons is an admitted drug addict, according to his plea agreement
filed in Putnam County Circuit Court. The crimes he was allegedly
involved with have all involved methamphetmine.

Putnam County prosecutors say they struggle with meth users and makers
who consistently repeat their crimes. The addiction is so strong that
anything short of jail time and rehabilitation is basically useless,
according to Steve Connolly, an assistant Putnam County prosecutor.

The best that prosecutors can do is ask a judge to revoke bonds if the
judge finds the defendant has committed another crime while on bond.

A preliminary review of meth cases in the past two years shows about
20 people who committed meth crimes committed them again while they
were free on bond, Connolly said.

"You're dealing with not only criminal behavior but the interplay of
their addiction to drugs," Connolly said. "The likelihood of
reoffenders, especially with this meth, is higher than with other
criminal defendants that we have."

Parsons is on the lam from the most recent meth lab charge, filed
March 27 by State Police. In that case, troopers received a tip that
Parsons was cooking the drug at the Beechwood Estates home where he
lived in Scott Depot. Police found the drug materials but not Parsons.

He and other methamphetamine drug makers or users are apparently
undeterred by what the legal system threatens. They face time in
prison if they are caught making methamphetamine. Instead of staying
clean on bond, some are driven by their addiction to the homemade
chemical concoction that has reached epidemic status in many West
Virginia counties, according to police and prosecutors.

Eric Goes, an assistant Putnam County prosecutor, said the county's
struggle with meth is several years old. Indictments on meth charges
alone have caused the caseload of the Putnam County prosecutor's
office to balloon.

Goes handles many of the methamphetamine cases in Putnam County. He
said the repeat offenders are a problem but they still have rights.
State law guarantees a criminal defendant a bond. The bond is supposed
to ensure the person will show up in court for hearings until a
verdict is rendered. Only defendants charged with murder or kidnapping
are not permitted to post bond.

Goes said his office is rethinking how they handle bonds in meth cases
because of the high rate of repeat offenses.

"We certainly don't want them going back out there and reoffending,
especially with the hyper-dangerous crime of meth-making," Goes said.

Last month, Putnam County sheriff's deputies charged 33-year-old James
Edward Davis for making methamphetamine in a Harmons Branch Road home.
He was free on bond from four drug-making charges in Kanawha County.
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