Jury indicts 23 on meth charges

Of 44 people indicted by a Kanawha County grand jury this week, 23 face at least one charge related to methamphetamines.

Kanawha County Prosecutor Bill Charnock and the Metro Drug Unit announced during a news conference Thursday that 130 people have been indicted on felony meth charges since January 2005.

"We're getting good pleas -- not dismissing any," Charnock said. "We're also getting a lot of pre-indictment pleas."

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. It only means that the grand jury believes there is enough evidence of a crime to merit a jury trial.

Those charged by the grand jury will be arraigned in the Kanawha County Judicial Annex in downtown Charleston in front of the following judges at the following times:


Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker, 1:30 p.m. on May 31:
Brandon Lawrence Cantrell, 20, of Charleston, burglary and grand larceny; Jeremy C. Hughes, 28, of Hurricane, conspiracy to operate a clandestine drug laboratory and operating clandestine drug laboratory; Kellie J. Tippie, 39, of Sissonville, conspiracy to operate a clandestine drug laboratory and operating a clandestine drug laboratory.
http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006051917/