Police: Couple had meth lab with grandparents in the home

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — Bright flood lights, chemical disposal trucks and agents in protective body gear surrounded a home in York County for five hours Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

It took five hours for them to remove a meth lab from a house on Otis Crosby Road, officials say.

Inside the home were two elderly people, who drug agents said had no idea what was going on under their roof.

Jessica Boyd, 32, and her husband, 33-year-old Danny Boyd, were arrested and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine.

Channel 9 spoke to Jessica Boyd's grandmother, who didn't want her name used.  She lives at the house and said she never smelled anything. She can't believe the dangerous drug was being made inside her home.

"I've got a good nose. I can smell anything," she said.  "They weren't cooking it in the house."

Members of York County's multijurisdictional drug enforcement unit said they were. They found several chemicals, bottles,  plastic tubing and Sudafed, which is a main ingredient of meth.

Lt. Mike Ligon said the Boyds had been flagged for trying to purchase too much ephedrine from a pharmacy.  State law only allows someone to buy less than 9 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period.

Ligon said an anonymous tip call led agents to the Boyds.  He said he is not surprised that the grandparents didn't know what was going on there.

"It could very easily be passed off and them not know any different as far as what was taking place there," Ligon said.

Jessica Boyd's grandmother told Channel 9 that there was Sudafed in the house, but she uses it herself for cold symptoms.

She saw the chemicals that agents seized, including drain cleaner, but said with seven dogs in the house, it's needed because their hair clogs the sinks and tubs.

She never suspected anything was being used to make drugs.

The grandmother said she wants to give her granddaughter and her husband another chance.

"I want them out of jail.  They help us out and do all the work around here," she said.  "I talked to 'em and they told me they were sorry and would never do it again."

Channel 9 learned drug agents raided the same house on Otis Crosby Road in July 2011.  They said they found materials for manufacturing meth at that time, but not an active lab, and did not make any arrests.

The grandmother didn't seem worried about the danger of having a meth lab in her home.

"They said it could blow up, but I don't really know.  That's what they say," she said.  "If they were really on it bad though, I think they need to get cleaned up and get their lives back together."

This meth lab bust was the eighth in York County this year.  Police discovered 10 last year.

Both Jessica and Danny Boyd were still in jail late Friday, each on a $25,000 bond.

WSOC