Pigeon Creek man charged for meth
Published 2:24 am Saturday, September 14, 2013
A suspected meth cook was arrested Thursday following numerous complaints about activities at his Pigeon Creek Community home.
Drug Task Force Commander Mark Odom said Tommy Lamar Kelley, 36, was arrested as the result of a joint investigation by DTF agents and the Covington County Department of Human Resources. Kelley was taken into custody at his Welcome Church Road home without incident.
“We had been receiving information for the past few weeks about a possible methamphetamine lab at the Kelley home and were already conducting an investigation into the reports,” Odom said. “Thursday, the Covington County DHR contacted us about a similar report their agency had received, along with information that children may be being exposed to a meth lab and unfit living conditions.”
Odom said, armed with that information, agency reps went to Kelley’s home to investigate and were given consent to search the home. Odom said agents located a plastic bottle containing about 300 grams of methamphetamine oil and other items associated with manufacturing of meth.
Kelley was taken into custody by the Andalusia Police Department for failure to appear in Andalusia’s municipal court and transported to the Covington County Jail. A hold has been placed on him by the DTF for the drug charges, Odom said.
Kelley is being held on a $301,000 bond on charges of failure to appear in the Andalusia case, trafficking, and felony possession of drug paraphernalia.
Odom said this wasn’t Kelley’s first brush with the law for drug charges. He convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2007, court records show.
“I guess some folks are just determined to learn the hard way,” he said. “We worked a case on Kelley a few years back. I am always for rehabilitation, but there are some, it seems, that do not want to do any better. I feel certain the District Attorney’s Office will show Kelley what happens to repeat drug offenders in Covington County.”