A fifth person has been arrested and faces four felony charges stemming from a fire caused by what authorities said was a container used in the “shake and bake” method of cooking methamphetamine.
Sylvia S. Moss, 36, of Anderson was charged Wednesday with felony counts of arson, manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Moss is currently out on bond. She will be arraigned on Jan. 11 in McDonald County Circuit Court, with Associate Circuit Court Judge John LePage presiding.
She joins Joseph A. Martin, 31, of Lanagan, and Rocky A. Colvard, 36, David W. Flory, 37, and Cody Dwayne Warren, 19, all of Anderson, in facing charges in connection with a Dec. 2 incident at her home, 401 1st St. in Anderson.
Authorities responded to a structure fire at the residence on Dec. 2, finding a shed engulfed in flames. McDonald County Sheriff Robert Evenson said no one was injured in the fire.
“Upon examination of the fire scene, I was able to determine the cause of [the] fire as coming from a container containing methamphetamine using the ‘shake and bake’ method of manufacture, that was at the point of origin,” wrote Kenen L. Martinez, a deputy and fire investigator for the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department, in a probable cause affidavit. “I was able to rule out all other possible accidental causes of the fire.”
The “shake and bake” method got its name as chemicals and crushed pseudoephedrine pills are combined in a two-liter soda bottle, then shaken up. The method uses smaller quantities of pseudoephedrine, making it possible for makers to skirt laws regulating the amount of the cold medicine that can be purchased at one time. It also allows makers to literally produce the drug “on the run,” as materials can be contained in a backpack.
N. Trevor Williams, an investigator with the Southwest Missouri Drug Task Force, said items to produce meth were found in a black backpack and included Red Devil lye, a Sprite bottle with an unknown liquid, coffee filters, glass jars, plastic tubing, and a white kitchen plate with a white powder residue. The residue and plastic tubing field-tested positive for the presence of meth, Williams wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
But while the method is faster and cheaper, it is no less dangerous than other methods, authorities caution.
“If there is any oxygen at all in the bottle, it has a propensity to make a giant fireball,” Sgt. Jason Clark of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, told the AP earlier this year. “You’re not dealing with rocket scientists here anyway. If they get unlucky at all, it can have a very devastating reaction.”
Evenson said his office had recently seen an increase in the “shake and bake” method.
“It’s relatively new to the area. We’ve seen it several times this year and didn’t see it before,” he said.
