By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: March 20, 2008

A Marianna man spent part of his 39th birthday getting arrested on drug charges along with two of his buddies.
The men were arrested at a mobile home in Sneads where a suspected methamphetamine “cook” may have been under way, according to Sneads Police Chief Burt McAlpin.
The accused are Adam Joshua Grice, 31, of Sneads, Dustin Matthew Freund, 20, of Chattahoochee, and Marianna resident David Andrew Ingram, who turned 39 the day he was arrested.
The three are all charged with the attempted manufacture of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of listed chemicals, according to McAlpin.
McAlpin said the incident began just after noon on Thursday. He’d gone to 1995 O’Hara Avenue in Sneads to arrest a different man on a violation of probation charge. The man was standing on the porch of the rented trailer when McAlpin arrived and was taken into custody.
But McAlpin said he noticed a whitish, chemical-smelling smoke curling out through the crack between the door and its frame.
“I recognized this to be associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine,” McAlpin said.
After he took his original suspect into custody, the man told him ‘Burt, you don’t go in there,’ McAlpin reported.
McAlpin instead started knocking on the door, calling out and identifying himself to whoever was inside. He said he had been told there were three people inside.
No one would come to the door initially, but McAlpin said he knew from what he was hearing that someone was there.
“I heard a lot of rustling and running through the residence,” McAlpin said. “I could hear glasses clinking, the toilet flushing, and knew something was going on in there.”
He said he heard the back door of the trailer open and ran around to find David “Snoopy” Ingram walking around the south side of the dwelling.
He took Ingram into custody and called for backup and search dogs, then went back to the front door and started knocking again.
McAlpin said Adam Grice finally opened the door and when he did that, “the toxic fumes were about to overcome all of us.”
He took Grice into custody and prepared to enter the residence.
“I got my gas mask out of my truck to protect myself and went in, with consent, to look for this third person,” McAlpin said. By this time, back-up had arrived, and McAlpin found Freund hiding in a closet in a back bedroom.
“He refused to come out, so I removed him and put him into custody, then opened the door to ventilate the trailer,” McAlpin said.
The homeowner, who rented the property to others, had been called and gave consent for officers to search the structure.
McAlpin said a hot plate in the kitchen was still warm when the search commenced, and that he believes a meth cook was in process when he arrived.
Several items commonly associated with the manufacture of meth were found, he said, along with some finished product.
Muriatic acid, iodine, red double lye, plastic and glass tubing, bottles with custom tubing, cases of matches, stained coffee filters, various solvents, including brake cleaner and octane booster, sudephedrin-type substance, stained funnels, and other glass were found throughout the structure.
In the bathroom, there was evidence that a large quantity of chemicals had been flushed or poured down drains, he said. Hypodermic needles and syringes were found in the tub, he said.
A few grams of finished meth were found in a void in the wall behind a hot water heater in the residence, he said, and residue was found in a coffee cup in a kitchen cabinet.
McAlpin said he believes the arrests ‘will actually dent the meth business in Sneads,” and said he’d had previous dealings with some of the suspects in drug-related matters.
Ingram’s listed address is 4483 Marion St., Marianna.
Grice was listed as living at 1995 O’Hara Ave. in Sneads, where the incident took place.
Freund lists an address of 106 Lavenia Lane in Chattahoochee.