5 arrested following discovery of meth lab

Photos by Joe Perry / The Item Deputies work the scene at a Pearson Road home where authorities found a makeshift meth lab on Thursday. Five people were arrested after its discovery.

By JOE PERRY
Item Senior Staff Writer
jperry@theitem.com

Five people were taken into custody Thursday afternoon after authorities found a makeshift methamphetamine lab at a Pearson Road home.

Suzanne DuBose, 48, of 4599 Briar Branch Road; Darryl DuBose, 29, and Randall DuBose, 48, both of 1030 Pearson Road; and Jason DuBose, 29, of 1070 Pearson Road, were all charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, said Sumter County Sheriff's Office Capt. Allen Dailey.

Tara DuBose, 29, of 4599 Briar Branch Road, was charged with possession of marijuana, Dailey said.

"We got a tip about lunchtime that a vehicle had people in it that were buying items to make methamphetamine," he said, explaining that deputies stopped a car occupied by Randall and Jason DuBose. That traffic stop, he said, led to obtaining a search warrant for 1030 Pearson Road.

That address — a few miles away from the point where U.S. 15 South curves to the left just pass Nettles Road — is about 12 miles away from downtown and has dozens of junked cars, golf carts, lawn mowers, an old 18 wheeler with trailer, boats, and numerous other piles of junk scattered about. Dailey said a John Deere tractor at the address was found to have been stolen from Clarendon County. Investigators spent a fair amount of time checking vehicle identification numbers to ensure all the other vehicles were not stolen. A four-wheeler thought to be stolen was also seized.

About 4:30 p.m., deputies were still on scene carrying out various pieces of glassware and other equipment used to make methamphetamine, dressed in protective hazardous materials suits, and the Sumter Fire Department was on scene to help decontaminate the deputies. Dailey said on a scale of 1 to 10, the makeshift meth lab rated a 5, as a surveillance camera was mounted on a utility pole outside the lab and the gate was electronically controlled, but the sprawling property was littered with junk. The lab itself, a workshop, appeared dormant, he said, but had clearly been used to make meth in the past.

Dailey said the next step is for the Drug Enforcement Agency to contract a company to clean-up the site, and county officials will decide whether the workshop should be condemned.

Sheriff Anthony Dennis said the investigation is ongoing, and noted that the sheriff's office chemist, Mitch Hansen, should have more information today.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Joe Perry at jperry@theitem.com or (803) 774-1272.