Police Bust 4 Elwood Meth Labs In 2 Days

ELWOOD, Ind. -- Police in the small Madison County community of Elwood thought they had all but rid the town of methamphetamine, but a flurry of arrests within the last two days let them know the scourge of drugs is still prevalent.

Elwood police made seven methamphetamine-related arrests and two more are pending, 6News' Derrik Thomas reported.

Acting on anonymous tips, police busted four meth labs, and they suspect there may be more.

Doyle Davis lives across the courtyard from a unit at the Forest Glen apartments, where one of the labs was discovered.

"We had no idea. In fact, we're all embarrassed about this ... We had no idea this was going on," Davis said.

Police said they found crushed Sudafed tablets, batteries, cold packs, scales and baggies used for distribution.

"It's a very dangerous product. It's dangerous in the process they make it, and also the chemicals they use," said Elwood police Sgt. Jamie Crawford. "The by-product ... is a very dangerous process."

Teelah Purnell, 24, faces charges of possession of paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance. Police said paraphernalia was in plain view when Purnell and her husband, Roger, granted officers permission to enter their home.

Some of the charges will be upgraded to Class A felonies because the activities were taking place within 1,000 feet of a church, Thomas reported.

Four suspects -- Michelle Frye, 28; Rickie Beeman, 36; Kevin Wilkerson, 44; and Brian Simms, 32 -- were held Friday on $100,000 bond in the Madison County Jail.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said Indiana had 724 meth labs incidents last year, nearly 11 percent of all meth-related incidents in the U.S. last year.

The number of meth labs peaked in Indiana in 2004, when 1,074 incidents were reported. In 1999, there were only 151 meth-related incidents in the state.