SF Police Make Second Meth Bust This Week

by Jill Johnson
February 08, 2013 6:00 PM


Sioux Falls Police are investigating their second meth bust this week. On Wednesday, Police found components of a meth lab inside a Sioux Falls home near Augustana College. On Thursday night, they found more meth, this time an abandoned meth lab, near a business in Central Sioux Falls.

Janna Langley of Sioux Falls said, "My husband came around four, looked outside and there was cop cars everywhere in the neighborhood."
    
Langley lives just a few doors down from the home near 12th Street and Van Eps Avenue, where four people were being taken away in cop cars Thursday night. Enough to make her feel a little uneasy.

Langley said, "It doesn't make me feel safe, having my neice and nephew around."

And she should, Police say 23-year-old Johnathon Julson, 33-year-old Tyler Hausten, 21-year-old Amber Counterman, 19-year old Abigail Shelton were arrested on drug charges.

Officer Sam Clemens said, "They had detectives that were monitoring that house and there was a vehicle that was leaving and they had an officer stop that."

Police say the arrests stem from a garbage bag that was found at a nearby business. An employee at Winair noticed there was something strange inside.

Clemens said, "Wednesday morning, he noticed a bottle that had a tube coming out of it. He didn't think much of it, and then later he saw the coverage about a meth bust bust and thought it seemed a little odd."

While walking in the area on Thursday afternoon, they found more items in the backyard of the home. After serving a search warrant, they had enough evidence to make the arrests.

"The people that manufacture meth started making it in smaller batches and that's what ends up being this one-pot method or it's, you find it in pop bottles or plastic bottles," said Clemens.

In this case, another tip, led to even more arrests all because something didn't seem quite right.

"If you see any plastic bottle that has something that looks like pellets inside it, like lithium strips, if there's and kind of metallic strips inside of it or if there's a liquid that's essentially divided itself into two," said Clemens.

All signs that you should make a call to police.

All four were arrested on drug charges including possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. One of them, Shelton, was wanted as a walkaway from the Minnehaha County jail. However, the person who rents the home was not arrested.