Sheriff: 8 Charged in 2 Lexington County Meth Lab Operations

Eight people were arrested this week in two separate meth lab busts in Lexington County.

On Wednesday around 7:45 p.m., Lexington County Sheriff’s deputies investigating a report of a meth lab at the home of Joey Dean Cockrell, 35, of 312 Senterfeit Road, Batesburg-Leesville, detected a strong chemical odor coming from the residence, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

Officers found one small plastic bag in the kitchen sink that contained a white substance as well as one straw and one razor blade during a search of the Cockrell’s home, Sheriff James R. Metts said in a sheriff’s department release. Officers also found one tin container on a table in the kitchen that contained a white substance, a straw and one metal pipe on top of the tin container as well as a two-liter bottle under a chair at the table in the kitchen that was used to manufacture methamphetamine.

In the second meth lab bust, deputies went to a home at 420 Old Field Road in Batesburg-Leesville and detected a strong chemical odor inside the home. During a search of the home, officers found seven reaction vessels that had been used to manufacture methamphetamine, two small plastic bags that contained methamphetamine, scales and materials including pseudoephedrine pills that had been crushed, Metts said. Officers also found several plastic bottles that had been used as reaction vessels to manufacture methamphetamine in a trash bag that was stored in a dryer at the home. 

Two children, ages 11 and 9, were at the home when officers found the meth lab, Metts said. The South Carolina Department of Social Services took custody of the two children.

Those arrested in connection with the meth lab on Senterfeit Road were Joey Dean Cockrell and Shannon Lynn Jones, 32, of Lexington. Both were charged with manufacturing methamphetamine.

Six were arrested in the raid at the Old Field Road home: Jeremy Neal Hall, 34, of Leesville; Clayton Ryan Conyers, 25, of Batesburg; Dennis Alan Hall, 47, of Batesburg; Tippany Lynne Hall, 36, of Leesville; Rebekah Dee Heslewood, 24, of Saluda; and Michelle Marie Webb, 25, of Leesville.

Jeremy Hall and his wife, Tippany Hall, lived at the Old Field Road residence, Metts said.

All six were charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, illegally altering pseudoephedrine and unlawfully exposing a child to a methamphetamine lab.                                  

Officers with the Lexington County Multi-Agency Narcotics Enforcement Team dismantled and safely disposed of the reaction vessels that were used to manufacture the methamphetamine at both homes, according to the sheriff’s department.