Woman admits to meth cooking
NORRISTOWN >> A Lower Pottsgrove woman is behind bars after she admitted to conspiring with several others in the “cooking” of methamphetamine at her township residence.
Melissa Ann Meehan, 26, of the 2100 block of Buchert Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6-to-23-months in the county jail after she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to engage in the operation of a methamphetamine lab in connection with a June 2018 incident at the residence in the Roll-
ing Hills Apartments complex in the township.
Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Meehan to complete three years’ probation following parole, meaning Meehan will be under court supervision for about five years.
As a condition of the plea agreement, Meehan, according to court papers, must testify truthfully against three others who are still awaiting court action for their various alleged roles in the meth lab cooking operation.
An investigation began when Lower Pottsgrove police responded to the apartment about 3 a.m. June 20 to investigate a tip that people were “cooking meth inside the apartment,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Pottsgrove Police Officer David Slothower. The tipster reported seeing Facebook videos posted by someone that depicted the meth cooking operation.
According to court documents, the videos depicted a clear bag which appeared to be filled with chemicals and a plate containing what appeared to be methamphetamine and the voice of someone indicating he was making “Christina,” which is a slang term for crystal meth.
When police knocked on the door of the residence, Meehan opened the door.
“There was a smoke condition coming from inside the apartment,” Slothower alleged, adding Meehan admitted there were several other people inside the apartment and gave permission for police to enter the residence. “Inside the home there continued to be this smoke condition.”
Two other females and a male were found inside the home, court papers indicate.
When she was questioned by police, Meehan admitted to contributing items for the manufacture of methamphetamine, according to the arrest affidavit.
Members of the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Team arrived at the apartment and a search recovered numerous items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine including, coffee filters, lithium, ammonium nitrate, handwritten notes “with recipes and instructions for cooking methamphetamine” and plastic bottles that contained chemicals used to produce the drug, according to the arrest affidavit.
A state police forensic scientist subsequently determined that methamphetamine was being manufactured inside the Rolling Hills apartment.
Lower Pottsgrove Police were assisted at the scene by the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Lab unit, Montgomery County Detectives, Upper Pottsgrove Township Police, Limerick Township Police and Royersford Borough Police.