Thursday Lab Busts

We received word Friday of two meth lab busts in Wilkes.  According to the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Department, one lab was found Thursday morning following a tip.  The lab was in a camper behind a residence on Parsons Road.  Vincent Ricci, age 51, was arrested and charged with manufacture of meth, maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance, and possession of meth pre-cursors.  The SBI did the cleanup of meth at the camper.  Then Thursday afternoon, Officer Whitley ran the tag on a car he was following and determined it was a tag registered to another vehicle.  The Officer conducted a traffic stop of the car which had 4 people inside.  A search of the vehicle found a small shake and bake meth container.  Michael Ashley of Roaring River, Jeffery Walker of Wilkesboro, Molly Wyatt of Wilkesboro, and Julie Absher of Millers Creek were all arrested and charged with manufacture  and possession of meth.  Mr. Ashley was already awaiting trial for selling meth last year.  Deputies seized 3 grams of meth from the car.  All those arrested in both meth lab busts were taken to the Wilkes County Jail.