• DEA: Cops searching for stolen iPads find $34 million in meth

    By Mike Anderson, NBCBayArea.com

    SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A San Jose home was the scene of one of the largest methamphetamine busts in United States history Thursday, according to the DEA. Three suspects were arrested on state drug violations after about 750 pounds of the drug was discovered in a home on the 4400 block of The Woods Drive. The find carries an estimated street value of $34 million.

    Detectives from the Palo Alto Police Department were investigating a case of stolen Apple iPads Thursday. During a search of the San Jose home, they found a large amount of methamphetamine.

    Read the original report on the meth bust at NBCBayArea.com

    The DEA was called in and a state search warrant was issued.

    During the search, they found what appeared to be a methamphetamine conversion laboratory, where the drug is transformed into crystal or "ice" form, according to the DEA.

    Multiple items believed to be stolen from Palo Alto were also found at the home.

    The investigation is ongoing and the names of the suspects have not been released.

  • Drug bust nabs 17 TCU students, including football players

    By msnbc.com and NBC News

    Correction: An earlier version of this post, citing Fort Worth police, incorrectly identified a former student who was arrested.  Austin Williams Carpenter, 26, is not involved in the case, NBCDFW.com reported.

    Original post: Seventeen students, including four football players, were arrested early Wednesday in a drug bust at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, school officials said.

    At a news conference, officials said those arrested sold drugs to undercover narcotics officers both on and off campus during a six-month investigation.

    "There is no doubt all of those arrested today are drug dealers," said Steve McGee, TCU chief of police, according to NBCDFW.com. "These individuals engaged in hand-to-hand delivery, for money, with undercover narcotics agents."

    Read original story on NBCDFW.com

    Among those arrested were football players David (D.J.) W. Yendrey, a junior defensive tackle from Edna, Texas; Devin Johnson, a junior defensive back from Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tanner Wilson Brock, Jr., a junior linebacker from Copperas Cove, Texas; and Tyler (Ty) Horn, a sophomore offensive tackle from McGregor, Texas, according to documents released Wednesday.

    In a statement, TCU head football coach Gary Patterson said, "There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days. As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad.”

    “Drugs and drug use by TCU's student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff. Period,” he said.

    TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. said the busts aren’t just a football problem, but also a student problem, and that it was shocking and disappointing to learn of the investigation and arrests.

    In a letter to students earlier in the morning, Boschini said that the school has never experienced a magnitude of student arrests such as this. The arrested students were taken off campus and are subject to expulsion, he said.

    Read the letter from TCU chancellor on NBCDFW.com

    McGee said the investigation began six months ago after multiple tips were received from students and parents.

    The police chief said those arrested were selling marijuana, cocaine, “Molly” (ecstasy in powder form), ecstasy in pill form, acid (LSD) and prescription drugs including Xanax, hydrocodone and others similar to OxyContin.

    On its website, NBCDFW.com listed the other 13 students who were arrested as: Bud Pollard Dillard, Cynthia (Cindy) Jaqueline Zambrano, Earl Patrick Burke, Hunter Wallace McLaughlin, Jonathan Blake Jones (not to be confused with the Jonathan Jones who is on the football team), Katherine Ann Peitre, Matthew Iarossi Davis, Michael Gragg King, Peter Signavong, Richard Clay Putney, Scott (Scooter) Lee Anderson, Taylor Davis Cowdin and William (Will) Davis Jennings.

    Lisa Albert, TCU's director of communications, confirmed to msnbc.com that 17 current students had been arrested. Also arrested were two former students, NBCDFW.com reported.

    Investigators are still working to determine if those arrested were working in small groups or together and with what suppliers, reported NBCDFW.com. Officials said the investigation is ongoing and that more arrests are possible.  

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

  • Cops: Woman spent six hours in a Wal-Mart making meth

    Tulsa County Jail

    Alisha Greta Halfmoon is accused of making meth inside an Oklahoma Wal-Mart.

    By msnbc.com

     

    TULSA – Tulsa police arrested a 45-year-old woman they said mixed chemicals together to make methamphetamine inside a Wal-Mart store.  

    “She didn’t have the money to make the purchases of the chemicals that were needed so she was taking what was needed in the bottle,” Tulsa Police Officer David Shelby told FOX23.com.

    Police said the suspect, Elizabeth Alisha Greta Halfmoon, had been in the store since noon on Thursday, taking chemicals from bottles and mixing them in order to make meth. She had been in the store for six hours, according to police.

    Security officials called police once they spotted Halfmoon acting suspiciously.

    Shelby said it was the first time he had seen anyone actually attempt to mix and make the drug in a store.

    “When firefighters were on the scene she made statements to them that is what she was doing, she was attempting to obtain these chemicals and was in the process of trying to manufacture meth. However, she said she was not very good at it,” Shelby told the TV station.

    One police officer received minor injuries when the chemicals in the bottle burned his hand. Nobody else was injured.

    Shoppers expressed shock and outrage at the incident.

    “Something could have happened, something could have blown up in there,” shopper Jonathan Tary told a television reporter.

    Read complete coverage at FOX23.com

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