ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996                TAG: 9601050067
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER 

POLICE RAID HOME, SAY IT'S DRUG LAB

When police raided a Rockbridge County couple's home early Thursday, they found them in the kitchen cooking - but they weren't making breakfast.

Instead, authorities discovered a methamphetamine lab, a first for the county, according to Deputy H.E. Bolen of the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office, who took part in the raid.

Methamphetamine is a pure form of amphetamine and can be smoked, snorted or injected. When heated, it gives off a vapor that can be inhaled.

The drug, commonly referred to as speed, crystal meth or crank, has grown in popularity in recent years because it is cheaper to make than cocaine but can be sold for about the same price, said Agent Al Henley of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Roanoke office.

He said there's a good market for the drug in the Roanoke area, but he believes most of it is shipped here from Texas or California. Only two or three crystal meth labs have been found in Western Virginia in the past four years, he said, and those were in rural areas.

Chemicals used to manufacture the drug were seized in the Rockbridge raid, Bolen said. Authorities also confiscated 300 pages of computer-generated instructions for making drugs from household chemicals, and e-mail messages discussing other individuals' experiments with homemade drugs, Bolen said.

Bolen said police detected methamphetamine residue throughout the house, on furniture, glassware and walls.

Bolen, who is also a member of the Rockbridge Regional Drug Task Force, said an informant told police about the lab, which he described as a medium-sized operation.

The couple's three children, ages 3, 6 and 9, were asleep at the time of the 12:24 a.m. raid and have been placed in the care of social services while their parents are in jail, the deputy said.

Kenneth John Keller, 31, and Laurie Ann Keller, 27, both of Route 645, were arrested without incident and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, Bolen said. Kenneth Keller was being held in the Rockbridge County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond and his wife was being held at the jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

A bond hearing was set for this morning.

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