RFP Staff
♦ “The rats will always find their way to the big cheese” is an expression heard on 30’s G-man movies. Indeed they will. Whether its manufacturing bootleg liquor or finding a way around obstacles when it comes to manufacturing meth, criminal entrepreneurs historically locate new avenues when thwarted. Many states presently have strict ID laws concerning the purchase of cold medicine drugs like Sudaphed containing pseudophedrine or ephedrine, the major precursor chemical used in meth manufacture. Our amateur meth chemists sometimes create a small ring of folks who will buy these medicines and sell them to meth chemists. Meth chemists nowadays will also purchase cheap ephedrine from clandestine labs who specialize in its manufacture from cultured yeast or from the natural salts of the ephradra plant or its Chinese equivalent Ma Huang.
Anyone with minimal chemistry experience can follow the simple directions available on the internet for meth manufacture and make meth. Even the pure crystalline meth called Crystal “Ice” can be “home brewed”. This stuff is a real public menace and law enforcement (federal, state, and local) is hard pressed to stem the flow of one of the most addictive and physically damaging drugs out there. Knock two chemists off and four take their place. The meth epidemic is exploding in Rowan county and Salisbury and it, along with heroin, drives a lot of crime.
According to sources in the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office on Monday the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and special elements from the SBI, served a search warrant on a house at 115 N. Upright Street in Landis and allegedly uncovered a one-pot meth lab and signs that meth’s lab’s chemicals were poured down a bathtub drain. In their investigation of the house, investigators seized meth making precursor chemicals, meth oil, and other elements used in meth manufacture.
Arrested Monday was Aaron Thomas Elizalde, 19, of 115 N. Upright Street in Landis, was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine (felony) and possession of immediate precursor chemicals (felony). Under a secured $100,000 bond, he is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center. His first hearing with be on April 5th.
Aaron Thomas Elizalde:
Also arrested on Monday was Ronald Douglas Mueller, 30, of 115 N. Upright Street who was charged with manufacturing controlled substance schedule I (felony), maintaining a dwelling for controlled substances (felony), and possession of an immediate precursor chemical (felony). Under a secured $100,000 bond, he is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center. His first hearing will be on April 5th.
Aaron Thomas Elizalde’s Previous Record:
Ronald Douglas Mueller:
115 N. Upright Street, Landis, N.C.:
Location 115 N. Upright Street, Landis, N.C.:
