ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County sheriff’s deputies arrested two people last week on meth-related offenses.

Kelly Caudle Lowder, 31, of N.C. 73 West, is accused of having an unspecified amount of the drug on Aug. 3.

Lowder was arrested that day and charged with a felony count of possession of methamphetamine. She was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $1,500 secured bond and released on bail the following day.

According to the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction, Lowder has three misdemeanor convictions in Stanly County: simple assault or affray in 2000; use or possession of drug paraphernalia in 2007; and driving while license revoked in 2009.

The same day Lowder was released, detectives Lang Harrison and Jeff Millen were checking a Wilson Street home for a man on outstanding warrants when they saw 43-year-old Kevin McGill “standing in the living room with a burned spoon on a wooden board,” who then tried to hide the spoon beside a chair, according to a probable cause statement for a search warrant Harrison applied for.

After McGill gave deputies verbal permission to search the home, Harrison said he found the spoon along with a needle and then had McGill sign a consent form.

During the search, Harrison said he found a blue duffel bag in the attic with lithium batteries and sulfuric acid — both precursors. The bag also contained coffee filters, plastic tubing, drain opener, Coleman fuel and plastic funnels, Harrison said.

A three-page inventory list shows deputies seized more than 50 items from the home, including:

• a urinary drainage bag containing plastic tubing, three feet of clear plastic tubing attached to a breathing apparatus and two feet of green plastic tubing from the master bedroom;

• two left-handed rubber-palmed gloves, several funnels with white residue, a half-full gallon of Coleman camp fuel, instant cold compresses (containing calcium and ammonium nitrate), lye drain opener, more plastic tubing, plastic drink bottles with off-white granules and a bottle of drain cleaner (containing sulfuric acid) in the attic;

• salt and Iso-Heat (containing isopropyl alcohol) in the kitchen;

• numerous syringes, several burned metal spoons and an empty box of Zephrex-D (a cold medicine with psudeoephedrine) from the living room;

• a glass smoking device containing white residue in the back bedroom; and

• an empty bottle of lye and a 2-liter plastic bottle with white residue outside.

McGill was arrested on Aug. 4 and charged with two felony counts of possession or distribution of a meth precursor — for lithium and sulfuric acid — and jailed under a $15,000 secured bond.

The next day, he was served with additional warrants charging him with: one felony count each of manufacturing methamphetamine and maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance; a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia (a glass pipe, plastic baggies and burned spoons); and three misdemeanor counts of simple possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (amphetamine, Opana, methadone). McGill was given a $75,000 secured bond for those charges.

Online court records show McGill has multiple pending traffic offenses in Richmond and Union counties. He is also facing misdemeanor charges of possession of stolen goods or property and carrying a concealed weapon.

McGill’s only prior conviction was in 1999 for driving while impaired in Mecklenburg County, state records show.

Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.

Kelly Lowder and Kevin McGill were both charged with meth-related offenses last week by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_earlyaugustmeth.jpgKelly Lowder and Kevin McGill were both charged with meth-related offenses last week by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Meth lab found in East Rockingham home

By William R. Toler

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