Three Arrested in Meth Investigations

Officers with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office Metro Narcotics unit and SLED agents, some donning HazMat suits, served a search warrant on two West Ashley homes Monday morning.

At 26 Lord Calvert Drive officers arrested 30-year-old Joseph McLaughlin on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Officers in HazMat suits removed equipment and precursors to manufacturing methamphetamines from an RV parked next the Harrison Acres home, according to a Sheriff's Office statment.

Emergency crews blocked several streets in the neighborhood with ambulances and fire engines while officers cleared out the meth making components.

Officers also served a search warrant at 329 Wappoo Road Monday morning where they also found precursors to manufacturing meth, the statement read. Residents Patrick M. D’Angelo, 43, and Heather M. Moreland, 28, were charged with manufacturing methamphetamine.

"I saw all the EMS and firetrucks, and at first I thought it was [our neighbor]," Steven Meyer said. "He's older and his wife died about four years ago, but the more I looked it just didn't seem right. Then I saw the tent. I called my mother and told her about it, I thought maybe they were doing some training or something, but she said they'd probably go somewhere more secluded to do that, then I joked that they must have busted Jody's meth lab, it's just unbelievable."

Meyer's parents live just around the corner from the home on Lord Calvert Drive in Harrison Acres. They have been in the neighborhood 31 years. Meyer said he does not know the owners of 26 Lord Calvert Drive or their son well.

"I knew of the family that lived there ever since I can remember, but their kids weren't our age, so we weren't in the same demographic," Meyer said. "But the parents are good people, there have never been any problems."

Meyer said Harrison Acres is pretty quiet when it comes to crime, aside from occasional car break-ins and thefts from open garages.

"A few years ago a Jaguar was stolen from that house over there," Meyer said pointing to a home a few doors down from the suspected meth lab. "That was definitely the biggest crime I can remember."