NEW CASTLE — Law enforcement authorities have learned more about a methamphetamine lab on Balph Avenue since making three arrests a week ago.

They filed new charges Thursday against Richard Clifford Carey, 33, of 12 E. Balph Ave. in connection with two operations they had raided May 29.

Carey is now in jail for being the alleged kingpin of the operations.

Previously charged were Wendy Lee Carey, 37, and Nicholas Andrew Stewart, 31, both of 12 E. Balph Ave., and Scott Shoaff, 38, of 113 Atlantic Ave., in connection with two methamphetamine labs at both of those addresses.

Members of the Lawrence County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration subsequently learned from a confidential informant that Richard Carey initiated all of the manufacturing.

The informant claimed to have first-hand knowledge of clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing that Carey  orchestrated at several locations, including where he lived, New Castle police said.

The source told police that Carey’s history of meth use dates back to his early teens, and that he cooks and uses methamphetamine every day.

The informant told police that Carey offered to teach others how to make the product, and that he learned to make methamphetamine in Panama City, Calif. The source said Carey moved last fall to 12 E. Balph Ave. and started the methamphetamine operation shortly after that.



THE PROCESS

The informant said Stewart initially watched, then helped  Carey in the process.

Carey stored the product outside next to the house in a barbecue pit, and it typically was kept in a 20-ounce plastic pop bottle, authorities learned. That went on until he moved out of the house just before Thanksgiving last year.

He relocated to 1501 Hamilton St., then began visiting several locations to make methamphetamine, the source told authorities, but he used 12 E. Balph Ave. and 113 Atlantic Ave. as his cooking locations.

He would carry his black bag of supplies from one house to another, the source said.

Carey began selling the product in January, and Carey, Stewart and Shoaff all were involved, the informant told authorities. The informant told them that the finished product using two boxes of over-the-counter ephedrine or pseudoephedrine yielded 5 grams of methamphetamine.

According to the source, Carey would make meth with Shoaff while Shoaff was working. Shoaff worked for a man  who purchased residential properties and renovated them for sale or rent, the source said, and after cooking the methamphetamine, Carey and Shoaff would discard the waste byproduct into dumpsters.

The source told police that Carey began using more and more methamphetamine, and he agreed to make it for Stewart and Shoaff and take half of the finished product as payment.



METH INGREDIENTS

He and Wendy Carey, Stewart and Shoaff then began “smurfing” —  making multiple purchases of ingredients such as pseudoephedrine at multiple places to circumvent requirements of the law, the source told police.

Pseudoephedrine, found in cold medicines such as Sudafed, is now off the shelves in most pharmacies and is kept behind the counter so mass quantities of it cannot be bought for this purpose.

When police interviewed Shoaff, he said Carey offered to teach him how to make methamphetamine and that he ended up buying methamphetamine from Carey multiple times. He would go to Carey’s house and watch him mix the ingredients and take the gray and black parts out of batteries, he told police.

He said Carey mixed everything in a plastic bottle but did not provide him with enough information for him to make it himself.

Stewart told police that Carry was the mastermind behind the clandestine lab, and that he would sell to his partner in buying and fixing up houses.

He told authorities that he and Carey had just finished cooking meth when police searched the Balph Avenue house on May 29.

Stewart led police to a location off Denny Drive in Shenango Township where Carey had stored some of his product next to a tree. Police confiscated the tube, and its contents field-tested positive for methamphetamine.

Carey is charged with four counts of possession of red phosphorus and other chemicals with intent to manufacture controlled substances; two counts of conspiracy in operating a methamphetamine lab, one count of operating a methamphetamine lab, one count of depositing, storage and disposal of chemical waste; one count of conspiracy to manufacture, deliver or possess with intent, one count each of manufacturing, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, manufacture of methamphetamine with a child present, and possession; three counts of endangering the welfare of children; one count of risking catastrophe and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.

He was arraigned by District Judge Melissa A. Amodie and is lodged in the Lawrence County jail in lieu of $100,000.

His preliminary hearing is June 13 in Central Court.

(Email: dwachter@ncnewsonline.com)