BURLESON COUNTY JURY FINDS ONE GUILTY OF METH MANUFACTURING

  

Rodney Clyde Schultz, 40, of Chriesman, was found guilty by a Burleson County jury on January 23, and was sentenced by Judge Carson Campbell, after a hearing, to 45 years confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division.  First Assistant District Attorney Joan Scroggins and Assistant District Attorney Derek Estep represented the State, and John Paschall of Franklin represented Mr. Schultz.  Judge Dan Beck presided over the week-long trial in January, but the case was reset until yesterday for sentencing by Judge Carson Campbell.

Schultz was originally arrested in April of 2011, after State Troopers and deputies with the Burleson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at Schultz’s family property.  The first officers on the scene observed items associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine including an unknown mash-like substance in a barrel, Coleman fuel, batteries, salt, and assorted solvents, tubing, and filtering devices.  A search warrant was secured for the property, and law enforcement located over 900 grams of methamphetamine in an intermediate stage of production.  With assistance from the DPS MIG Team (Methamphetamine Initiative Group), the clandestine lab was secured and safely transported to the DPS Crime Lab in Houston.

Shortly after sentence was pronounced, Scroggins commented about the case, “This is the decision we’ve been waiting for and working toward.  Meth[amphetamine] is a terrible problem in our county and all over rural Texas.”  She continued, “Drug possession and manufacture is not a victimless crime.  A significant number of our cases stem from methamphetamine usage – car break-ins, burglaries, robberies, thefts, and assaults can all trace back to drugs.”

District Attorney Julie Renken was reached for comment afterward saying, “Thanks to observant local law enforcement, we were able to locate and eliminate a significant meth lab in Burleson County.”  “Rodney Schultz has damaged so many lives through meth distribution,” she continued, “we are pleased first with the jury’s verdict in January and with Judge Campbell’s significant sentence in this case.”