Alleged Meth Maker Busted

Dorchester County deputies arrested and charged Michael Robert Cherry, 48, of Summerville with manufacturing methamphetamine Christmas Eve at 233 Mohican Circle.

The wife of a Ridgeville firefighter made the complaint after visiting a friend's house and noticing the chemical smell and drug-making ingredients. The woman was staying with Cherry at the time. 

Patch has withheld the woman's name due to fears for her safety. 

According to Dorchester County Sheriff Public Information Officer Maj. John Garrison, meth labs are typically found through odor or the resulting fires they create. For example, a trailer fire in rural Dorchester County a few weeks ago likely resulted from the manufacturing of the drug, Garrison said. 

While only 1.5 grams of meth was found at the residence, deputies uncovered a hot plate, empty boxes of pseudoephedrine, bottles of drain cleaner and rust remover and other known meth-making ingredients and containers. 

According to the incident report, the woman living with the man had smelled something noxious on Oct. 22 and ran out of the residence "delirious and passed out in the roadway."

She was later arrested for child endangerment because at the time, her 2-year-old son was living at the residence with her and Cherry. Both the woman and child tested positive for meth. Her son has been in DSS custody since that time and the woman was under house arrest at Cherry's residence.