Police in Cody, Wyoming, say they’ve busted a methamphetamine lab in town in a case the Cody Circuit Court is scheduled to hear this week.
The investigation started at about 7 a.m. on June 23, when Cody Police Officer Thomas Wilshusen was on routine patrol and heard that a woman wanted to report her boyfriend for cooking meth in her home that day, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in Cody Circuit Court.
The woman, 37-year-old Destiny Abate, reportedly said her boyfriend William Hutchins had been acting irrationally and making meth in her home on Bleistein Avenue.
Wilshusen took along Sgt. Eric Wright to have a look at the home, and they allegedly found nobody home. The affidavit says the agents looked through opened windows and spotted a tin can capped with aluminum next to a clear jar marred with a “dark unknown substance.”
Wilshusen retrieved a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) so he could enter the home.
As he braced to enter, Hutchins returned and the agents placed him into investigative detention, says the affidavit.
“I observed multiple injection (sites) on both (of Hutchins’) arms,” wrote Wilshusen.
Inside the home, he allegedly found a large metal pot containing black scorch marks and folded pieces of aluminum and a powdery spoon.
A separate affidavit says agents entered the home after they received a search warrant.
They found a reaction vessel and hydrogen chloride gas generators in the trash bin in the alley. They also found Sudafed boxes and blister packs, burnt spoons and needles and burnt coffee filters, the affidavit says, adding that all those things indicate a meth cooking episode.
Shopping Trip
A Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent ran Abate and Hutchins through a national pseudoephedrine tracking site that police used to see who has been buying Sudafed, a key ingredient in meth.
Hutchins had bought some at the Walmart in Cody two days before the search, the affidavit says.
Abate had also bought some at the local Walgreens, she allegedly admitted.
Hutchins woke her up June 20 with the idea to “cook” meth, she reportedly told the special agent.
So, she drove him around Cody to get the ingredients, buying at least one of the chemicals herself, says the affidavit.
The cooking process made her lungs burn, she reportedly said. Hutchins cut his hand trying to separate battery casings to get an ingredient.
The Tally
Hutchins faces one count of making meth, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. He’s also charged with possessing chemicals to operate a drug laboratory (up to 25 years and $50,000) and a third count of being under the influence of meth (up to six months and $750).
Abate is charged with one count of aiding and abetting the cooking of meth. She could face up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
She has a hearing set for July 8.
Hutchins has a preliminary hearing set for Wednesday.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
