METH LAB BUSTED Page 3
COLLINGDALE COPS CHARGE 3 IN DRUG OPERATION
Collingdale police discovered a suspected meth lab in the rear of this duplex on MacDade Boulevard. Three people who lived in that portion of the duplex are facing charges.
Authorities are breathing a sigh of relief after dismantling a low-level but potentially highly volatile methamphetamine lab on Tuesday.
It’s all thanks to a nearby CVS clerk whose suspicions about a possible shoplifter led to seeking assistance from a Norwood officer who popped in to the store to buy his wife a card for their 19th wedding anniversary - followed up by “good police work,” according to the borough’ top cop.
“It really was a situation of being in the right place at the right time, for everybody involved,” Collingdale Police Chief Robert Adams said of the overnight investigation, which culminated in the arrests of Christine Andress-Nye, 45, her boyfriend Michael Papale, 52, both of Collingdale, and Timothy Fauls, 37, of Springfield.
The trio was taken into custody early Tuesday at the scene in the rear apartment of a house in the 1200 block of MacDade Boulevard. All three are charged with possession with the intent to deliver or manufacture drugs, reckless endangerment, causing a catastrophe and a related chemical offense.
Though Andress-Nye and Papale list the MacDade apartment as their primary residence, Adams said Fauls is a frequent visitor.
“All three stay at that house,” the chief said.
According to Adams and Collingdale Sgt. Kenneth Felker, Norwood Police Cpl. Christopher Kennedy was flagged down by a clerk when he entered the store at 159 N. MacDade Boulevard in Glendolden.
“This clerk was savvy enough to get this officer’s attention. If the clerk hadn’t done that, it could have been a different story,” Adams said.
According to Adams, the man in the store, identified as Fauls, had made a Sudafed purchase sometime previously, and had reached his limit for the medication.
The nasal decongestant contains a key ingredient to produce methamphetamine.
Among the many items seized from the apartment as evidence was a computer that when turned on by investigators, Adams said, “opened to directions on how to make meth.”
Kennedy said when he first entered the CVS, he noticed a man in the cosmetic section and immediately thought it was strange. He then spoke to the two store clerks, one of whom asked Kennedy to alert Glenolden police.
“Do me a favor, let a Glenolden car know this guy has been in the store for about an hour and hasn’t bought anything, and his pockets are looking a bit bulky,” Kennedy recalled the clerk asking him.
Kennedy said he alerted Glenolden police about the man. He also provided a description: White male wearing white shorts and white tank top.
The man then walked up toward the counter but made no purchase. As soon as the man walked out of the store, Kennedy said, “He bolted.”
According to a release issued by the Collingdale Police Department, it was about 1:16 a.m. Tuesday when officers from the Glenolden Police Department were dispatched to the CVS for the suspicious man. Employees were uncertain if he had taken anything, and also indicated he may have been under the influence of something.
Collingdale police were notified that the man was seen running east on MacDade Boulevard – into Collingdale. Collingdale Officer Thayer McCauley immediately began an area search for him.
That’s where the advantage of small-town police took over, according to Adams.
McCauley, like other officers in the department, knew where to go.
“They know the back streets and short cuts,” Adams said. “He went into the back alleyway, and there’s the guy running down the alleyway.”
At this point, six minutes passed since the initial dispatch.
Adams called it “absolutely good police work.”
The man, who matched the description of the suspicious CVS shopper, was standing at the rear door of the apartment when McCauley exited his vehicle, according to the police release. Attempting to make contact with him, McCauley knocked on the door. A woman, later identified as Andress-Nye, answered. The officer asked her if a man wearing white shorts and a white tank top had just entered the apartment. She indicated that Timothy Fauls had just entered the apartment wearing similar clothing. McCauley asked to speak to Fauls. The officer and Fauls stepped outside and walked to the rear of the officer’s vehicle. McCauley asked Fauls what he was doing at the CVS. Fauls said he was shopping, but had hit his head on a shelf, causing him to bleed. Fauls told McCauley he put down all his shopping items and left the store.
Fauls was then patted down for officer safety. McCauley found nothing on him from the CVS. As McCauley spoke with Fauls, Norwood Police Officer Denis Daly spoke with AndressNye.
Andress-Nye, who previously lived in Norwood an is familiar with the police, invited the officer into the apartment. She then showed Daly several bags that Fauls had brought into the residence over the last day or two, according to the Collingdale press release.
Andress-Nye told the officer that Fauls was not staying at the apartment, but he had brought several bags of what she believed contained clothes and some work tools.
Daly noticed several open bags containing a white powdery substance, along with a can along with a can of Meth-Ethyl, lighter fluid, crushed pills and an empty box of Sudafed, the release states.
Suspecting the apartment was a possible drug lab, Adams said, the officers sought
“It is a confirmed meth lab. It’s low level, one bottle at a time, but had the potential to be very volatile.”
— Collingdale Police Chief Robert Adams
the assistance
Subsequently, detectives from the Delaware County Criminal Investigation were called for assistance, as well as the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Lab Response Team.
The scene was secured and occupants of another apartment housed in the building were evacuated.
“It is a confirmed meth lab,” Adams said about midday Tuesday. “It’s low level, of supervisors. one bottle at a time, but had the potential to be very volatile.”
A secondary search of the apartment revealed amounts of methamphetamine, as well as heroin believe to be for personal use, and $1,000 cash found under a bureau in a bedroom, Adams said.
Authorities do not know how long the lab was in business.
“A lady said she smelled a weird smell for a couple weeks, but she has cats and thought it could have been coming from them,” Adams said.
Andress-Nye, Papale and Fauls were all remanded to the county prison in lieu of bail, set at 10 percent of $500,000 each. Preliminary hearings are listed for Oct. 25 before Magisterial District Judge Gregory J. Loftus.
In unrelated criminal complaints filed last month, Andress-Nye is also charged with public drunkenness in Norwood, and disorderly conduct involving fighting in Yeadon, according to online court records.
Collingdale Officer Patrick Crozier and Glenolden Officer Matthew Locher also assisted in the meth lab investigation.