Four arrested in three drug busts

Three recent drug busts around the county saw four suspects arrested, one for growing marijuana in his flower pot, one for driving a rolling meth lab, and the final two caught in the act of finishing a meth cook.

The pot grower, Jared Lee Hendrixson, 32, is charged with delivery or sale of marijuana and simple possession. He was charged after deputies arrived at his Kennedy Street home to discover marijuana plants growing in a planter outside his house.

‘You aren’t allowed to grow those type of plants in your garden,’ said Sheriff Jackie Matheny, pointing out more marijuana was found near an outbuilding and there was also evidence marijuana had been smoked at the home.

The rolling meth lab bust came when Trooper Gary Myers pulled over Jimmy Judkins, 36, of the Skyline area. During the stop, the sheriff’s department drug dog was led around the vehicle and indicted the presence of drugs. The subsequent search netted numerous items used in the production of meth including, but not limited to, iodine and red phosphorous.

Judkins reportedly admitted ownership of the items, telling lawmen he was actually on his way to a creek off Lawson Mill Road where he intended to cook a batch of meth. Judkins added he had been cooking meth for about two months.

The final bust came this past week when lawmen arrived at the Rock Island residence of Travis Martin Bryant, 32, just in time to catch he and alleged co-conspirator Shawn E. Martin gassing off their meth cook. Bryant reportedly admitted he had allowed meth to be made in a shed at his house, adding he had been using the drug himself for about eight years.

‘That was the last process and our officers showed up and caught them in the act,’ said Matheny, noting there has been a recent resurgence of meth lab seizures. ‘It seems like meth is back since we’re finding a whole lot of it again. It was on the downswing right after the law which made ingredients harder to get, but it appears some have found a way around it.’

Those arrested with the meth labs have been charged with promoting the manufacture of meth.