***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2015

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: MANUFACTURING METH

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

A jury took approximately thirty (30) minutes to convict Ashley McFall, 27, of one (1) count of Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Class A Felony, on Wednesday, the 9th day of December, 2015.

The conviction resulted after jurors heard three (3) days of compelling testimony from the law enforcement officers who located her methamphetamine laboratory, a roommate of McFall’s, and from McFall herself. Law enforcement’s investigation commenced when officers were dispatched to McFall’s residence after receiving a complaint that McFall and others were using drugs in the presence of children. Officers from the Elkhart City Police Department (EPD) responded and found two (2) young children in the home and, in plain view, items that are typically used to manufacture and ingest methamphetamine. Based upon those observations, EPD contacted the Indiana State Police (ISP) Clandestine Laboratory Response Team, who responded to assist in the investigation and executed a search warrant at McFall’s residence.

Once on scene, ISP Troopers located hydrochloric acid (HCL) generators, reactionary vessels, and numerous other items associated with the manufacture and use of methamphetamine. The majority of items were found in McFall’s bedroom or in the garage of the residence. The day after the warrant was executed, an individual provided EPD with a video of McFall making a HCL generator in the garage of the residence. That same generator was located by officers during their investigation.

Despite the foregoing evidence, McFall took the witness stand and testified on her own behalf. McFall told the jurors that she was not “cooking meth” and that the item in the video was not a HCL generator but a bracelet that she was making for the children who lived in the home. McFall told jurors that she was addicted to methamphetamine and, at the time of her arrest, was using $150.00 per day of the drug. McFall further testified that she never purchased or manufactured the drug and that people provided it to her for her companionship. McFall was unemployed at the time. Despite her story, the jury convicted McFall of being responsible for the methamphetamine laboratory found in her bedroom and garage. The offense was elevated to a Class A Felony after jurors heard evidence McFall was manufacturing the drug within 1000 feet of a youth program center.

As a result of McFall’s conviction, Judge Cataldo scheduled a sentencing hearing for the 7th day of January, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. in the Elkhart County Security Center. McFall faces up to fifty (50) years in prison for the dealing conviction. McFall is being held at the Elkhart County Security Complex pending sentencing.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”