22 West Tennessee People Indicted: Accused of Making Meth

MEMPHIS, TN -- Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies, along with deputies and officers from the Tennessee Meth Task Force and Tipton County announced Thursday morning, December 4, 2008, that they arrested or are attempting to arrest twenty-two people. Those people were indicted earlier this week for buying large amounts of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine. Deputies started the round-up of those indicted on Thursday morning. So far, they’ve arrested thirteen of the twenty-two people.

As of Thursday afternoon, deputies had found five meth labs, all in one day. Two of the meth labs were active labs. One of those was in Munford, TN the other in Brighton, TN. Three other inactive labs were found in Memphis, Bartlett, and Arlington.

The following is a list of the people who have been arrested so far: (All of them face, at the very least, three counts of manufacturing methamphetamine. Some other charges are also noted by their names.)


* John Hudson, 59, of Memphis, additional misdemeanor charge, possession of meth paraphernalia


* Gary Pettit, 53, of Memphis


* John Watkins, Jr., 32, of Memphis


* Frankie Hill, 30, of Tipton County, additional felony charge, possession of methamphetamine


* David Malone, 36, of Bartlett-inactive lab found at the residence, 3179 Elmore Park Road


* Rusty Wilson, 32, of Munford, TN, additional felony charge, possession of methamphetamine. Also an active meth lab was also discovered at his home, 259 Adkins Circle, Munford, TN. A woman at the house was also arrested. Wilson’s 4 week-old child was also taken into custody by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. Wilson may face additional charges for having a child on the premises of a meth lab.


* Junior Griggs, 50, of Arlington, additional felony charge, possession of methamphetamine-Also an inactive meth lab was found at his residence at 5600 Lamb Road.


* Ricky Williams, 39, of Cordova


* Ricky Poole, 31, of Burlison, TN.


* Sandra Sanders, 48, of Millington


* Ronnie Williams, 39, of Cordova, brother of Ricky Williams


* Larry D. Stafford, 30, Brighton, TN. An active meth lab was found at his residence, 1864 Indian Creek Road, Brighton, TN


* Scott Mahaffy, 44, of Memphis. A disassembled meth lab was found at his house in Memphis, 4837 Sturbridge Lane.


Most of the twenty-two were indicted for buying things meth dealers or users would have. Under the Meth Free Tennessee Act of 2005, retailers are required to keep written records of customers who buy products containing pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient used to make meth, which is commonly found in many non-prescription cold and allergy medications. The law states that an individual who purchases or possesses more than nine grams of pseoudoephedrine (about four boxes of the medicine, depending on the number of tablets) is in violation of a class D felony. The standard sentence for a class D felony, if convicted, is 2-4 years in prison.

"This has been an important investigation to help rid Shelby County of illegal drugs. The number of indictments in this case is an indicator of just how severe the methamphetamine problem is in our community and the need for us to routinely share information with neighboring law enforcement agencies,” said Shelby County Sheriff Luttrell.

Through October of this year the number of meth labs seized in Shelby County has tripled compared to the same time period in 2007. In 2007, deputies found twelve labs. So far this year, they’ve found thirty-two. The number of people arrested has also more than tripled.

Click on the image above to see the mug shots of the people arrested.


Source: myeyewitnessnews.com