Douglas Turner Wilkes
WINNSBORO – Three men were arrested by Fairfield County Sheriff’s investigators last week and the remnants of a meth lab were discovered in a drug raid at Lamplighter Apartments in Winnsboro.
Douglas Turner Wilkes, 28, was arrested in his home at apartment 16-B at Lamplighter Apartments Feb. 27 and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine. Although investigators recovered no finished product, numerous items associated with the production of meth were located and seized from the home. Officers also discovered waste products and other materials left over from previous meth productions. A small amount of what officers said they believed to be a substance that was in the final stages of meth production was also discovered in the home and sent to the State Law Enforcement Division’s lab in Columbia for testing.
According to Fairfield County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad Douglas, items recovered from the raid included packets of cold medicine, lithium strips from batteries, starter fluid and other items, clearly indicated a methamphetamine operation.
“These items are so specific to the production of meth, there is no other conceivable reason to have them all together in one place,” Douglas said. “In South Carolina, you don’t even have to have the drug anymore. If you’ve got the stuff to make it, you can be charged.”
A simultaneous raid on apartment 12-C netted John Terrence Lawry, 29, of Ashford Ferry Road, Blair, and Jonte Lamar Long, 26, of Reservoir Road, Winnsboro on charges of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Four bags of suspected marijuana, a digital scale, a handgun and more than $1,000 in cash were seized from the home. Investigators also discovered a ledger containing names and transaction information during the raid.
Douglas said the ledger appeared to be a customer list, which he said “could possibly generate leads for continuing investigation.”
All three men were transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.
