McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

August 21, 2010

McAlester police arrest two in suspected drug lab blast; third hospitalized

BY Mandy Carter Staff Writer

McALESTER — What started as a fire and medic call to 421 E. Creek Avenue late Thursday ended in two arrests and a transport to the hospital after an alleged methamphetamine lab exploded in the residence.

According to McAlester Police Det. Capt. Gary Wansick, medics arriving on the scene of the explosion contacted local law enforcement upon seeing suspected equipment for manufacturing methamphetamine.

The Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office and McAlester Police Department’s joint task force responded to the scene at

the request of their shift supervisor, Capt. Don Hass, Wansick said.

According to Wansick, patrol officers secured the scene and narcotics officers wrote and executed the search warrant that resulted in the arrests of former husband and wife Jeffrey Thompson, 39, and Barbie Hodges, 34, both of McAlester.

Bill Galloway, 57, was transported to McAlester Regional Health Center after sustaining burns in the incident, police reported. His condition was not available at press time.

On Friday, charges of endeavoring to manufacture methamphetamine were filed in Pittsburg County against all three.

Galloway was previously charged with possession of a controlled substance in 2001, but the case was dismissed, according to files on the On Demand Court Records website.

Also according to files on www.odcr.com, Hodges has a lengthy record that includes a previous arrest and conviction for possession of controlled substance — methamphetamine in 2005.

Thompson has multiple prior convictions on drug related charges in Cherokee and Carter counties, though none in Pittsburg County.

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