Cda Cops Bust Another Meth Lab Latest Arrests Find Area ‘Awash’ In Meth Cases, Prosecutor Says
Police arrested two people Friday in connection with a methamphetamine bust at an apartment in a Coeur d’Alene Laundromat.
James E. Wilson, 36, and Trudi J. Choate, 34, were charged with trafficking in a controlled substance by manufacturing methamphetamine.
Wilson was ordered held on $10,000 bail and Choate was released on her own recognizance.
The bust is one of about 20 that have occurred in North Idaho this year, Coeur d’Alene Police Capt. Carl Bergh said.
Wilson and Choate were arrested Thursday night after an “ongoing investigation” at the apartment connected to the Lake City Laundromat, 726 N. Fourth St., Bergh said.
Police got a search warrant Friday morning and spent several hours removing what appeared to be methamphetamine-making supplies.
The city’s latest bust happened in the midtown business district, near several small shops, homes and churches.
Pastor Eric Ranum of Trinity Lutheran Church stopped by the clean-up scene Friday morning to make sure the children in the church day care center would not be in danger.
“It’s frightening for our entire culture that these things are propagating at the extent they are,” Ranum said. “I’m concerned more for the kids in the neighborhood than anything else. It’s just discouraging for a neighborhood.”
New methamphetamine cases are keeping the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office busy. There have been 30 percent more meth cases so far this year compared with the same time in 1999, Prosecutor Bill Douglas said.
“We are awash in methamphetamine cases,” Douglas said. “It just goes to show that these seeds of destruction are all around us.”
The meth bust comes just days before motivational, anti-drug speaker Milton Creagh is scheduled to appear in Coeur d’Alene as part of the Enough is Enough campaign. It will be the third time Creagh has visited North Idaho schools and community groups in less than a year.
This sidebar appeared with the story:
ANTI-DRUG TALK
Milton Creagh
Motivational, anti-drug speaker Milton Creagh will speak from 7-9 p.m. Sunday at the Lake City High School auditorium.
On Monday, he’ll speak to students from Lakes Middle School and Project CDA Junior High from 8:15-9:15 a.m., then he’ll speak at Canfield Middle School from 10:10-11:10 a.m. and Woodland Middle School from 1-2 p.m. He will speak from 7-9 p.m. in the Boswell Hall Auditorium at North Idaho College.
On Tuesday, he’ll speak from 8-9 a.m. at Lake City High School and from 9:45-10:45 a.m. to students from Coeur d’Alene High School and Project CDA High School.
His visit is sponsored by the Enough is Enough program.