Published: May 11, 2007 08:36 pm      

Child tests positive for meth

Father charged with endangerment, manufacturing

BEREA — A Berea man has been charged with child endangerment after sheriff’s deputies took down an active meth lab Wednesday night outside his home.

Christopher Thomas, 36, of Wilson Lane, Berea, is facing a laundry list of charges — the result of a complaint which led to a methamphetamine investigation at his residence.

“He had a working meth lab,” said Nelson O’Donnell, Madison County sheriff. “He also had a loaded .40-caliber pistol in the area where he was detained. He had approximately .4 grams of methamphetamine on his person as well as some marijuana and a straw, drug paraphernalia.”

Two children, a 13-year-old male and an 11-year-old female, as well as Thomas’ wife, were in the home during the incident. Social services case workers were called to the scene to ensure the safety of the children, O’Donnell said. They were placed temporarily in the custody of their grandmother and taken to St. Joseph Berea for examination.

“They were taken to the Berea emergency room where they did a urinalysis that resulted in the 13-year-old male testing positive for methamphetamine,” O’Donnell said. “There’s no way to tell how he actually consumed it, whether he ingested it by just being in the area, if (Thomas) was smoking it around the kids, or whether they got into where the lab was actually cooking.

“There’s no way for us to know, other than the fact that we’ve got a child who has been exposed to methamphetamine. We can say that without a doubt.”

Lab reports are not back yet, but O’Donnell said it may be possible to tell just how much methamphetamine the child was exposed to. Thomas’ 11-year-old daughter tested negative for methamphetamine.

Thomas was detained at the scene, where the lab was found in a small, shack storage building behind the home, O’Donnell said.

“Based upon what they found as they were questioning the suspect, they were able to obtain a search warrant for the residence,” O’Donnell said. “Upon executing the search warrant, the lab was then found in an outside storage building. Kentucky State Police Special Investigations and Richmond police officers assisted in the dismantling and neutralization of the lab.”

Officers worked from 6 p.m. until 3 a.m. to clean up the scene, and successfully and safely cleared the area without incident or injury.

Thomas is charged with menacing, resisting arrest, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, manufacturing methamphetamine and controlled substance endangerment of a child. More charges could be pending against other defendants, said Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Johnson.

The Thomas home is next door to a trailer on Wilson Lane belonging to Billy and Susie Carpenter, which burned in February, allegedly because of a methamphetamine lab fire. The Carpenters are facing manufacturing methamphetamine charges as well.

Thomas was arrested and charged at the Madison County Detention Center, where he is being held on a $20,000 cash bond.



Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.