Some residents in Salisbury, North Carolina wondered why their street had been blocked off for several days. Well, it turns out that some of their neighbors had been caught using incredibly dangerous means to keep their meth lab running. Specifically, stealing power from nearby power lines.
When Floyd Hellard, his wife Jennifer Porter, and their roommate, Trampas Money, had the power at their rental home on West Bank Street in Salisbury shut off, they had a problem. They were running a meth lab at that house, and had to find a way to keep it going. Apparently one of them decided to hook jumper cables to the cut power line in order to keep the power going to their house.
On Thursday, after police got several tips that Hellard, Porter, and Money were cooking meth, they descended on the house with a search warrant. They found several 2-liter soda bottles containing one-pot meth labs, along with lithium batteries, needles, syringes, Drano, gas generators, and salt. They also found several boxes of Sudafed cold medicine, which for years contained pseudoephedrine.
When police discovered that Hellard, Porter, and Money were stealing power with the help of jumper cables, they called Duke Energy. Much of the 1000 block of West Bank Street has been closed since Thursday morning while Duke Energy crews work to fix these methheads’ handiwork. Apparently stealing power with jumper cables is a very common tactic for people running meth labs. However, it’s very dangerous. In 2009, for instance, a man in Arkansas tried to hook jumper cables to a power line to keep his meth lab going, but crashed to the ground after being shocked. He wound up with a broken back, neck, and pelvis, as well as hardened organs.
Hellard and Porter were both arrested on a lengthy list of felonies related to the meth lab bust. Money managed to escape the dragnet, but police are actively searching for him. They could also face charges of theft of services for stealing power from power lines as well. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Duke Energy sends them the bill for cleaning up the mess. The landlord would also be well within his rights to send these three the bill for making that house livable again.
Hellard has a fairly lengthy rap sheet; he’s been convicted of drug possession, DWI, breaking and entering, and disorderly conduct among other things. He was already on probation for driving with a revoked license and resisting arrest. Porter was on probation for drug possession and resisting arrest. Money was due to go to court in January for possession of stolen goods and driving without a license, registration, or insurance. Considering their records, I have to wonder if the meth scrambled their brains. That’s about the only explanation I can think of for why they could have thought stealing power was an even remotely good idea.
These three need to go to prison for a long time. Granted, we’re rightly concerned about sentences for drug-related offenses being too draconian. But considering the danger these three put their neighbors in by running a meth lab in their neighborhood, they need to have the library thrown at them.
