Posted on 10/25/2002 5:50:47 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
STIGLER -- Almost three pounds of methamphetatmine, worth about $800,000, was discovered on land owned by a couple suspected of operating a drugs- for-votes ring in Haskell County, prosecutors said Thursday.
Authorities found 1,173 grams of methamphetamine Wednesday night in the trunk of one of numerous vehicles parked by the home of Eddy Kay Copeman and common-law wife Romonia Blunt, Assistant District Attorney Jim Volz said.
Officers raided the home Tuesday and found 50 grams of methamphetamine. Volz said those drugs, combined with those found Wednesday wrapped in foil and bound with black electrical tape, weighed about 2.7 pounds. An exact weight has not been determined.
The drug is worth about $800,000 on the street, sheriff's deputy Joe Denny said.
The drug cache equates to hundreds of meth fixes, said Malcom Atwood, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
"There are 28 grams to an ounce, which allow for several hits," Atwood said."With that large amount, you would have hundreds of dosage units."
Copeman, 49, and Blunt, 29, both of Keota, along with Sammy Dwight Copeman, 32 and Charles Copeman Jr., 28, both of Stigler, were charged Oct. 21 with 15 counts of false notarization of an absentee ballot and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony.
The group is accused of trading absentee ballots for meth.
Authorities said a third search warrant was issued Wednesday for another residence in Haskell County involving the alleged drugs-for-votes scandal. They declined to reveal details.
The Keota couple were charged Tuesday with trafficking after a search of their home turned up meth, $155,000 in cash and paperwork linking them to the August and September elections in Haskell County, authorities said.
Volz said the couple could face life in prison and up to a $500,000 fine on the trafficking charge.
Questionable absentee ballots and applications prompted District Attorney Jim Bob Miller to ask the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the couple's possible involvement in voting irregularities in both elections.
Miller said 20 percent of votes cast in the last election were absentee ballots.
According to an investigator's affidavit, the OSBI investigated allegations that before the September 2000 sheriff runoff election, incumbent Charles Carry asked Eddy Copeman to help him get re-elected.
Carry has denied the allegation and has not been charged. He was defeated by Manuel Ballard by 187 votes.
Copeman recruited Carolyn Gibson to offer voters either $20 or about a quarter-gram of methamphetamine for their absentee voter packets, court documents show. Attempts to reach Gibson were unsuccessful.
The couple failed to appear in court Tuesday, prompting authorities to issue warrants for their arrests.
I am sure you are right about that!
I wish people would choose their words more carefully - it isn't WORTH sh*t ! but it could fetch $800,000 on the street..
Wonder if they got the ballots in the raid.
And is there any question about which party would have benefitted?
woooohoooooOOOOOOOO!
The price of methamphetamine in Oklahoma is stable. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Dallas Division, which oversees the state of Oklahoma, reports that the price of methamphetamine throughout Oklahoma remained stable from the third quarter of FY2000 to the first quarter of FY2002. Methamphetamine in Oklahoma City sold for $65 to $90 per gram, $350 to $1,600 per ounce, and $12,000 to $20,000 per kilogram in the first quarter of FY2002. The price per pound was not available. In Tulsa the drug sold for $600 to $1,200 per ounce ($1,500 per ounce for crystal methamphetamine) and $8,500 to $15,000 per pound. In McAlester methamphetamine sold for $100 per gram, $1,000 per ounce, and $10,000 to $12,000 per pound. In Duncan the drug sold for $30 to $60 per gram and $700 to $1,000 per ounce.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.