February 27, 2009
For more information contact:
Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Dixie A. Morrow
(850) 444-4000
FOUR MILTON RESIDENTS ARRESTED IN METHAMPHETAMINE MANUFACTURING CONSPIRACY
Pensacola, Florida - United States Attorney Thomas F. Kirwin, Northern District of Florida, announced today that four defendants were charged in a federal drug conspiracy out of Santa Rosa County. Shawn Caudell, 37, Tolanda Talley, 37, Ashley Rossel, 24, and Erica Smith, 21, all of Milton, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine as well as conspiring to possess or distribute a listed chemical.
The criminal complaint, unsealed in United States District Court this morning, alleges that the co-defendants obtained significant amounts of pseudoephedrine from area pharmacies in order to manufacture methamphetamine in homemade laboratories. The complaint alleges that this included hundreds of instances wherein one or more of the co-defendants would purchase multiple boxes of pseudoephedrine in a single day. The complaint explains that law enforcement officers were able to track these suspect searches by cooperating with area pharmacies. Law enforcement officers then executed two separate search warrants on the residences of the co-defendants, resulting in the seizure of methamphetamine, the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine, thousands of dollars in cash, and over 15 firearms.
A criminal complaint is merely a charging instrument. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in United States District Court.
This case was investigated by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.