• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds


Woman sentenced to 10 years, $50,000 restitution on meth charges

Posted at 11:25 am July 29, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Kimberly Hughes Welch

Kimberly Hughes Welch

 

CLINTON—A Knoxville woman received a 10-year sentence and was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution after pleading guilty Friday to a methamphetamine manufacturing charge following a raid at an apartment in Oak Ridge two years ago.

The meth lab raid occurred at an apartment on Tusculum Drive in central Oak Ridge on March 30, 2016. Agents found an active meth lab and items used to make meth, according to a property forfeiture affidavit filed by Russell Barker, who was director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County. The raid followed an undercover or covert narcotics investigation into the distribution of methamphetamine.

Kimberly Hughes Welch, 51, pleaded guilty to four charges related to the raid in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday. Three are felonies, and one is a misdemeanor. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Anderson County, Courts, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Criminal Court, Anderson County General Sessions Court, Anderson County grand jury, initiation of methamphetamine manufacturing, Kimberly Hughes Welch, meth lab, meth lab raid, methamphetamine, methamphetamine manufacturing, possession with methamphetamine with the intent to sell, promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, Raynell Hopson, Russell Barker, Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force

Warrants: Woman admits residents made meth in Tusculum Drive apartment

Posted at 10:32 am April 2, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Kimberly Hughes Welch

Kimberly Hughes Welch

An Oak Ridge woman who lives at an apartment raided by police on Wednesday admitted that she and a man who also lives at the home were using methamphetamine laboratory components, including chemicals and pseudoephedrine powder, to make meth there, authorities said.

Besides the chemicals and pseudoephedrine, officers also found gas generators, hoses, and what they described as bi-layer liquids, according to arrest warrants. Police described those items as meth lab components. They were allegedly found inside Apartment C at 197 Tusculum Drive during a Wednesday evening search, according to the warrants, which were filed by Simon Byrne of the Seventh District Crime Task Force.

Raynell Fountaine Hopson

Raynell Fountaine Hopson

After she was read her Miranda rights, apartment resident Kimberly Welch, 48, told police that she and Raynell Hopson, 47, who also lives in the apartment, were using the equipment to make meth, Byrne said.

Welch and Hopson have each been charged with the initiation of meth manufacturing, possession of drug paraphernalia, and the manufacture/delivery/sale of Schedule II drugs.

The alleged meth lab was within 1,000 feet of La Petite Academy on Tulsa Road, a drug-free school zone, so there could be a school zone enhancement to the charges, which would be applied at sentencing if Welch or Hopson are convicted, said Russell Barker, director of the Seventh District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Clinton, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, Police and Fire, Tennessee, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Sheriff's Department, drugs, initiation of meth manufacturing, Kimberly Welch, manufacture/delivery/sale of Schedule II drugs, meth lab, methamphetamine laboratory, Oak Ridge Fire Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, ORFD, possession of drug paraphernalia, Raynell Hopson, Richard Henry Stein, Rick Coley, Russell Barker, Seventh District Crime Task Force, Simon Byrne, Tennessee Meth and Pharmaceutical Task Force, Tusculum Drive

Authorities find active meth lab on Tusculum Drive; three arrested

Posted at 4:30 pm March 31, 2016
By John Huotari 5 Comments

Tusculum-Drive-Meth-Lab-Bust-March-30-2016-2

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory in a home on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Pictured above are three members of the 7th District Crime Task Force dressed in hazmat suits and using oxygen as they prepare to enter the back of the home. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 5:15 p.m.

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, and three people were arrested, including two people who live at the home.

The Seventh District Crime Task Force determined the home was an active meth lab at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Director Russell Barker said. The alleged lab was inside a home at 197 Tusculum Drive, Apartment C.

Three members of the Crime Task Force first checked the home wearing hazardous materials suits and breathing oxygen. After they determined it was an active meth lab, they went back in to remove what Barker described as meth lab materials and trash left from cooking meth. Officers also found finished product, Barker said, although he didn’t have information on how much.

Officers collected the meth lab-related materials in front of the home on a blue tarp. Wearing gloves, boots, and sometimes using breathing masks with eye shields, they also placed some items in plastic five-gallon buckets.

A man and woman who live at the house were decontaminated and taken to jail in white Tyvek suits at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. Barker said one of them had been inside the home but was coming out when officers arrived. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Clinton, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, Police and Fire, Rocky Top, Tennessee, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Sheriff's Department, Christopher Wallace, hazardous materials, meth lab, methamphetamine, methamphetamine laboratory, Nondo, Oak Ridge Fire Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Russell Barker, Seventh District Crime Task Force, Tennessee Meth and Pharmaceutical Task Force, Tusculum Drive

Police: Remains of suspected meth lab found during search of home

Posted at 7:54 pm July 10, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Arthur Wilson Jr.

Arthur Wilson Jr.

Julia Wilson

Julia Wilson

The remains of a suspected methamphetamine laboratory were found during a search of a home on West Wadsworth Circle on Wednesday, authorities said.

Items found in a trash can in the basement of the home included coffee filters, a Coleman brand camp fuel can, lithium batteries that had been cut open, and lithium strips that appeared to have been chemically reacted, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas said in arrest warrants. He said other items included a sports drink bottle with a two-part liquid, a soda bottle with a white powdery substance and holes that appeared to have been burned through the bottle from a chemical reaction inside, and two empty boxes of Claritin-D medicine that originally each contained 2.4 grams of pseudoephedrine.

The two defendants, Arthur Wilson Jr., 50, and Julia Wilson, 49, are on probation for convictions for manufacturing methamphetamine in Morgan County, the warrants said. The two are under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Correction, and one of the conditions of probation is that the home can be searched, Thomas said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Detention Facility, Anderson County General Sessions Court, Arthur Wilson Jr., John Thomas, Julia Wilson, manufacture of a Schedule II drug, manufacturing methamphetamine, meth, meth lab, methamphetamine, methamphetamine laboratory, Morgan County, Oak Ridge Police Department, possession of drug paraphernalia, probation, pseudoephedrine, Schedule II drug, Tennessee Department of Correction, Walter Cum

State: Anderson County led state in meth lab seizures in 2013

Posted at 1:35 pm January 20, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

According to information released by the state on Friday, Anderson County led the state in the number of meth lab seizures in 2014.

Authorities in Anderson County made 83 meth lab busts in 2013. Anderson County is one of two East Tennessee counties that ranked in the top five for meth lab seizures in the state during the 2013. The other was Monroe County, which ranked fourth. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, East Tennessee, meth lab, meth lab seizures, Monroe County

Meth lab found in Lake City motel room

Posted at 3:49 pm January 7, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies seeking to serve outstanding arrest warrants on a man located a meth lab inside a Lake City motel on Monday.

Deputies received information that Tommy Joe White was at the Blue Haven Motel on North Main Street in Lake City and arrived there at around 10:15 a.m. Deputies knocked on the door of room 109 and were given permission by a woman who answered the door to search the room. White was found hiding underneath the bed and taken into custody.

While he was being patted down, deputies reported finding drugs and drug paraphernalia on White. An active, one-pot meth lab was found hidden in a backpack between the room’s refrigerator and dresser. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Lake City, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Sheriff's Department, drugs, meth lab, North Main Street, Sherry Burgess, Tommy Joe White

WYSH: Man charged after meth lab sets apartment on fire

Posted at 12:38 pm November 21, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

A Kingston man was arrested early Tuesday morning after his meth lab caught his bedroom apartment on fire.

Roane County deputies arrested Justin Michael Owens, 23, on five counts of reckless endangerment and one count each of manufacturing meth, tampering with evidence, and vandalism following the incident, which occurred at Smith Apartments on Kingston Highway.

According to the Sheriff’s Department incident report, the fire started when there was a “catastrophic failure” of one of the containers involved in the meth-making process. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Police and Fire, Roane County Tagged With: apartment, fire, Justin Michael Owens, Kingston, Kingston Highway, manufacturing meth, meth lab, reckless endangerment, Smith Apartments, tampering with evidence, vandalism

Lake City man convicted of conspiracy to make 50+ grams of meth

Posted at 3:05 pm September 6, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Jeffery Scott Braden

Jeffery Scott Braden

He was the only one of 42 people indicted earlier this year to go to trial in an unprecedented meth-making conspiracy, and now the Lake City man has been found guilty, authorities said Friday.

After a three-day federal trial, a jury convicted Jeffrey Scott Braden of conspiracy to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; the possession of equipment, chemicals, products, and materials that can be used to make it; and being a felon in possession of ammunition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Braden was tried in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Federal, Government, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Sheriff's Department, conspiracy, conspiracy to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, David P. Lewen Jr., Drug Enforcement Administration, Eastern District of Tennessee, indictment, Jeffrey Scott Braden, meth, meth lab, methamphetamine, Operation Meth-odical Destruction, possession of ammunition by a previously convicted felon, possession of equipment chemicals products materials that may be used to manufacture methamphetamine, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Thomas A. Varlan, U.S. Attorneys' Office, U.S. District Court, William C. Killian

Seven arrested at alleged meth lab on Oliver Springs Highway

Posted at 1:49 pm August 8, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Seven people were arrested Wednesday afternoon at an alleged methamphetamine laboratory on Oliver Springs Highway, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home on a drug investigation and found an active meth lab, Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Detention Facility, Anderson County Sheriff's Department, Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker, criminal conspiracy, Daniel Glenn Lewis, Gary Lynn Gregory Goodman, Jamie Lynn Fleisch, Jean Ann Lewis, meth lab, meth manufacturing, methamphetamine laboratory, Michael Edward Weiss, Oliver Springs Highway, Paul White, promotion of meth manufacturing, Timothy Dale Leinart

Meth lab bust includes 90 pounds of ammonia, 700 coffee filters, acid, fuel

Posted at 1:55 pm March 7, 2013
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Anderson County authorities serving a warrant at a mobile home on Becks Lane in Claxton on Monday found an alleged methamphetamine laboratory that included 90 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, 700 coffee filters, two gallons of muriatic acid, and more than a gallon of Coleman fuel, as well as a white substance that tested positive for meth, records said.

Ingredients and equipment that could be used to make meth were scattered around the home, including in a shed near the back of the home, in a 1996 Buick, and under a motor home in the driveway, according to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report. Authorities detected the “distinct odor” of anhydrous ammonia at several places near the home, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Jason D. Leach said in the report.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Sheriff's Department, anhydrous ammonia, Becks Lane, Claxton, coffee filters, Coleman fuel, David Charles Estes, Elmer Carl Murphy, hazardous materials, Jason D. Leach, Johnathan Acker, Kimberly Kay Murphy, meth, meth lab, methamphetamine laboratory, muriatic acid, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Wally Braden

Search Oak Ridge Today

Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

Recent Posts

  • ORAU launches new app with a variety of resources available, including hundreds of STEM internships, fellowships and research opportunities
  • Disposing of uranium waste could cost at least $7.2 billion
  • Y-12 now getting power from Pine Ridge substation
  • Man sentenced to 8 years after fleeing, crashing, attempting carjackings
  • Three Ohio residents die in two-vehicle crash
  • DOE picks Idaho for nuclear test reactor
  • TBI investigating man’s death
  • Luminarias to feature peace messages
  • Oak Ridge tennis court dance is Thursday
  • DOE bus tours restart in Oak Ridge
A Twitter List by OakRidgeToday

Recent Comments

  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Tracy Powers on Planning Commission to consider Main Street apartments, plan revisions
  • johnhuotari on Four incumbents re-elected to Oak Ridge City Council
  • Levi D. Smith on Four incumbents re-elected to Oak Ridge City Council
  • samuel hopwood on Housing: Apartments proposed on former AMSE site
  • Matt Bailey on Robin Smith named Oak Ridge police chief

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2022 Oak Ridge Today