Sunday Morning Crime Update

Kenneth Ray Anderson

UPDATED AT 1:40 P.M. ON MARCH 17, 2013.

According to the West Virginia Regional Jail website, a Cleveland, Webster County man was booked into the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on Saturday on drug and other charges.

Kenneth Ray Anderson, age 40, was arrested for the felony crimes from Webster County of Operating or Attempting to Operate a Clandestine Drug Laboratory, Conspiracy, and Altering Meth Precursors. Anderson was already serving a 30 day jail sentence from Upshur County for the misdemeanor crime of Driving While Suspended, Third Offense. Anderson was serving the 30 day sentence on weekends and when he arrived for this weekend's incarceration period, he was served with the aforementioned felony arrest warrants from Webster County.

According to the criminal complaints filed against Anderson, on March 6, 2013, Corporal Tom Mendez initiated a traffic stop on Anderson in Upshur County. During the traffic stop, Corporal Mendez secured permission from Anderson to search Anderson's Webster County residence in an attempt to locate a fugitive from justice, being one Kevin Lee Gregory. Our prior article on the arrest of Gregory can be found at this link:
http://webstercommentator.blogspot.com/2013/03/virginia-man-arrested-on-fugitive-from.html

The complaint says that Anderson's residence was located in Cleveland, which is the northern part of Webster County near the Upshur County line. Corporal Mendez, along with Sergeant Jerry Dornburg and Senior Trooper Rich, then searched Anderson's residence with his consent and found and arrested Gregory without incident. The complaint further alleges that Dornburg noticed that Gregory had a glove on his hand and was in the process of cooking meth, all of which was in plain view. Dornburg noticed items in Anderson's residence commonly found in "shake and bake" meth labs, including but not limited to camp fuel, lithium batteries, cold packs, tubing, and coffee filters. Dornburg later secured an additional search warrant from Judge Jack Alsop.

On the charges from Webster County, Anderson faces possible prison sentences of not less than one year but not more than five years on the Conspiracy charge, and not less than two years but not more than ten years on the Operating or Attempting to Operate a Clandestine Drug Laboratory charge, and not less than two years but not more than ten years on the Altering Meth Precursor charge. A "clandestine drug laboratory" is defined by law as "any property, real or personal, on or in which a person assembles any chemicals or equipment or combination thereof for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine (meth), methylenedioxymethamphetamine or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)."

An arrest is not an indication of a person's guilt, but is merely an allegation based on probable cause that a person may have committed an offense.