by Al Summers
News Editor
alsummers@timescourier.com
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An agent from the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway Drug Task Force examines one of the many pieces of evidence obtained from the dismantling of a suspected methamphetamine lab in a house on Woodhaven Drive off Old Hwy. 5 South. The highly explosive material was discovered Monday evening, Sept. 6 during the execution of a search warrant. A nearby house had to be evacuated during the dismantling process.
Photo by Det. Lane Bennett
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Deputies and detectives from the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department and Ellijay Police Department, firefighters from the county’s fire department, and drug task force agent from the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway Drug Task Force spent their Labor Day holiday diffusing a literally explosive situation.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched Monday afternoon, Sept. 6, to a duplex to investigate a domestic dispute on Woodhaven Dr. When the deputy arrived, she was informed that a laboratory used to manufacture methamphetamine, a drug that produces a high amount of long-lasting energy, was located in the residence. She reported the information to detectives who called in the drug agents.
Two subjects in the residence fled the scene, but were later apprehended on Yukon Rd., and they were escorted back to the scene by deputies.
A search warrant was obtained for the residence by the DTF agents. Arrested at the scene were Clarence Nicholas Gilles, 25, and Crystal Gennoe, 23, both of Ellijay.
Both were charged with the manufacture of methamphetamine and possibly face other felony charges in connection with the methamphetamine lab. At press deadline Tuesday, Sept. 7, both suspects were being held in the Gilmer County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing before a superior court judge.
DTF agents worked from 8:30 p.m. until after midnight early Tuesday morning clearing the residence of the highly explosive chemicals used in the process for manufacturing methamphetamine.
During the investigation and removal process, a residence next door was evacuated as a precautionary measure in the event there was an explosion.
Gilmer County Chief Det. Stacy Nicholson told the Times-Courier “drugs were in the process of being manufactured,” at the lab.