2x Mobile Meth Lab

[cotner]

Same woman caught twice in about 2 weeks with a mobile meth lab in her purse.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY • The woman who allegedly brought a “shake-and-bake” meth lab into a south St. Louis County Walmart this month was charged Tuesday with six drug-related crimes after she was caught with another bottle of the cooking drugs inside a gas station.

Jennifer Culp, 32, of Arnold, faces five felony charges, including drug distribution, and one misdemeanor. She is being held at the St. Louis County Jail on $200,000 cash-only bail.

Culp was arrested about 9:30 p.m. Monday outside the U Gas station at 6161 Telegraph Road after police discovered she had a small batch of methamphetamine in a soda bottle, police say. Culp allegedly tossed the bottle as police came to arrest her.

That came on the heels of her June 7 arrest for allegedly shoplifting at the Walmart at 3270 Telegraph Road with a similar stash of bottled chemicals for making meth in her purse. The bottled lab is sometimes called a “shake-and-bake” or "one-pot" lab, in which drug users or makers cook small amounts of methamphetamine to use or sell.

The store full of customers was evacuated because of the volatility of the chemicals in the bottle.

No one was injured in either incident.

Darryl Balleydier, a detective with the Franklin County Narcotics Unit, said "shake-and-bake" or "one-pot" style meth labs have replaced larger room-sized labs because it's faster to combine chemicals into a soda bottle. Balleydier said it's easy for meth makers to buy ingredients at pharmacies or big box stores and mix them on the go.

He said that "95 percent" of meth labs police are finding in Franklin County are single-batch labs. He said meth cookers in Franklin County often drive to St. Louis city or county to buy ingredients because prescriptions are not required to buy pseudoephedrine here. However, people wanting to buy pseudoephedrine in Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties must have a prescription.

The "shake-and-bake" method is more dangerous because the chemical reaction can cause explosions, Balleydier said.

"You have all these chemicals that used to be separated all just dumped in one bottle," he said. "You can actually see the lithium metal burning and sparking in the bottle."

The bottle must be "burped" to gradually release pressure without allowing too much oxygen from seeping inside the bottle and causing an explosion, he said.

Patrick M. O'Connell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/woman-accused-of-making-meth-at-st-louis-county-walmart/article_8dcb1944-ba1f-11e1-a723-0019bb30f31a.html

[MWOS]

Advances in organic chemistry research are truly amazing.

[melindafelinda]

I can make meth in my purse? Good to know.

[tacokick]

It's shake and bake and I helped!