Responding to complaints of an unusual odor emanating from a room at the Value Travel Inn in the Slidell area, deputies with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office discovered six people in a room at the hotel engaged in the operation of a meth lab.
As a result of the incident, Daniel Ely (w/m – 109 Oak Park Dr, Slidell – DOB: 4/01/1994), Ashley Howell (w/f – 123 Lakeview Dr, Carriere, MS – DOB: 12/21/1980), Megan Hines (w/f – 6900 Hwy 11, Carriere, MS – DOB: 8/02/1995), Brooklynn Hollaway (w/f – 16 Burgetown Rd, Carriere, MS – DOB: 8/29/1992) and Mark Harris (w/m – 7 Simmons Hill Rd, Carriere, MS – DOB: 10/06/1979) were all taken to the St. Tammany Parish Jail and booked with:
L.R.S. 40:967A – manufacturing of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine)
L.R.S. 40:1023 – possession of drug paraphernalia
L.R.S. 14:130.1 – obstruction of justice
L.R.S. 14:108 – resisting an officer
Criminal patrol deputies, members of the sheriff’s office narcotics division, members of St. Tammany Parish Fire Protection District #1 and personnel from Acadian Ambulance arrived at the hotel at approximately 10:30 PM Monday night. After checking several rooms, they detected a strong odor coming from one of them. When the deputies knocked on the door, a man could be seen peering from around the room’s curtain, then he disappeared back into the room. After repeated attempts to get the man to open the door, deputies eventually gained access and removed two subjects (Ely and Howell) from within the room. Those two individuals confirmed that the room had been used for the manufacture of methamphetamine and that there were three other individuals (Hines, Hollaway and Harris) still in the room, hiding in the bathroom. After an extended stand-off, those three also surrendered to deputies.
During questioning of those five individuals, it was discovered that the room had been used for the manufacture of methamphetamine several times over the course of the previous two days.
As the room was being prepared for disposal of the lab materials, deputies found a sixth individual (Fisher – see below) lying on the floor under the bed, unresponsive. She appeared to be having a seizure and was foaming from the mouth. Deputies immediately removed her from the room and she was decontaminated by a rescue team. She was then taken to a local hospital where she later regained consciousness. Her current condition is unknown.
Deputies recovered a significant amount of raw materials used in the cooking process, including several bags of ammonia nitrate, several bags of lye, two bottles of sulfuric acid, and a gallon of camp fuel. In addition, deputies found a bag of manufactured methamphetamine within the room.
All five individuals listed above are being held on $50,000 bond (each). Upon her release from the hospital, Keirsten Fisher (w/f – no address given – DOB: 9/2/1977) will be booked with L.R.S. 40:967A – manufacturing of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine) and L.R.S. 40:1023 – possession of drug paraphernalia.
