Federal prosecutors take over meth lab case; suspects plead guilty to multiple larcenies
Two defendants involved in a May 12 meth lab raid at a New Kent campground will now face charges at the federal level.
Whitney Renee Marciniak, 24, of the 200 block of North Ivy Ave., Highland Springs, and Jason Andrew Meade, 25, of the 6300 block of Hopewell Road, New Kent, will appear before a federal judge in Richmond, according to New Kent Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory. The announcement was made during Monday afternoon New Kent Circuit Court proceedings.
Last May, New Kent SWAT team officers and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) descended on a ramshackle trailer parked at a New Kent campground. Inside the trailer authorities found a methamphetamine lab along with a marijuana growing operation. Marciniak, Meade, and a third suspect, Nathaniel Blake Atkins, were arrested and taken into custody.
In accordance with law, Gregory dropped eight charges each lodged against Marciniak and Meade, as they were indicted on the same charges at the federal level. Marciniak and Meade face one charge each on the following: manufacturing methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm while in possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance (heroin), and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Currently, Atkins only faces one count of possession of a controlled substance in New Kent and no charges at the federal level. No date has been set as of yet for Marciniak’s and Meade’s appearance in federal court.
However, legal troubles continued Monday afternoon for each defendant with court hearings relating to thefts in April and May of this year. Both defendants accepted identical plea deals to one count of burglary, one amended charge of unlawful entry (originally burglary), eight counts of misdemeanor petty larceny, and five additional petty larceny charges (amended from grand larceny). Five charges of intent to sell stolen property were dropped.
In a summary of evidence, the co-defendants, who were involved in a relationship at the time, ransacked multiple properties in New Kent. During those crimes, they stole batteries and battery cables from a variety of vehicles including cars, motor homes, and lawnmowers. The couple also took any additional scrap metal they could find including air conditioning units, metal pipes, and copper.
On May 12, New Kent deputies responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle on Newtown Road that had been seen in vicinity of the aforementioned crimes. Deputies spotted the pair on foot and arrested both after a short pursuit.
Evidence indicated the couple had sold 71 batteries in total to a junkyard. Both defendants admitted they stole items to support a drug addiction, something that did not sit well with Judge Thomas B. Hoover.
“When people say drugs don’t lead to crime, they need to take a look at this case,” the judge said. “These two stole to feed their heroin addiction, not considering who they were taking from.”
Under the plea agreement, each defendant received a 10-year jail sentence with all but one year suspended on the burglary charge. Twelve month sentences on each of the 14 misdemeanors were suspended in both cases, and each defendant ordered to pay at least $5,220 in restitution to the 13 victims.