Silver Creek meth operation ends with convictions
The third of four men convicted in connection with manufacturing methamphetamine in a Silver Creek Township trailer was sentenced last week in Lake County District Court.By: LaReesa Sandretsky, Lake County News Chronicle
The third of four men convicted in connection with manufacturing methamphetamine in a Silver Creek Township trailer was sentenced last week in Lake County District Court.
Jah Deontray Culp, 32, of Silver Bay, was sentenced on Feb. 25 to 122 months at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud and 40 years of probation for first degree manufacture of methamphetamine, court records show. He can apply for a review of terms of probation in 12 years.
Along with Culp, Robert Lorntson Jr., 52, of Beaver Bay, Devin Connor, 32, of Lutsen and Donald Packard, 44, of Finland were charged with first degree methamphetamine manufacturing in 2011.
On Aug. 1 that year, Packard entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 122 months in a correctional facility and 10 years of probation.
Connor pled guilty to first degree manufacturing of methamphetamine on Nov. 21, 2011, and was sentenced on Jan. 6, 2012, to 93 months in a correctional facility.
According to Assistant County Attorney Lisa Hanson, Lorntson is expected to be sentenced the week of March 18.
According to the criminal complaint, in the fall of 2010 a confidential source was interviewed by Officer Richard Hogenson of the Two Harbors Police Department and Special Agent John Nordberg of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The source reported that a number of individuals were involved in manufacturing methamphetamine in a trailer in Silver Creek Township.
After obtaining a search warrant, Nordberg went to the alleged lab on Oct. 18, 2010. He and officers found a vacant trailer. A closed door in the trailer was emblazoned with “Meth Lab Closed.” In the room, the trailer’s furnace closet, and a garbage bag outside the trailer, the officers seized various methamphetamine lab components, including empty boxes of decongestants, bottles of drain, carpet and engine cleaners, batteries, and other items.
The complaint states that Nordberg also obtained copies of pseudoephedrine (decongestant) sales records from pharmacies in Silver Bay, Hermantown and Duluth indicating that Connor, Culp and Packard had all purchased decongestants between August and October of 2010.
On Feb. 4, 2011, Nordberg received a report from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension laboratory indicating that the residue on one of the coffee filters taken from the trailer tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the complaint.
Tags: lake county, news, meth, crime
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