Second meth-lab bust causes concern in Wake County
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- For the second time in a week, a meth lab is causing concern in Wake County neighborhoods.
This time it was in North Raleigh's Brentwood subdivision where police raided a split-level house and arrested a man and woman living in the rental home.
Robert Kennerly, 43, and 28-year old Melissa Godshall are charged not only with crimes related to the meth lab but also child abuse and animal cruelty.
Police say two small children in the home were not either suspect's children but the children of a woman who was also living there.
The mother is not charged with a crime but police say she and her children had to be decontaminated and received medical evaluations.
Investigators say the animal-cruelty charges are because three dogs in the house were -- like the children -- endangered by the lab.
Neighbors such as Kenneth Weeks were concerned.
"I walk down this street three times a day with my dogs and I don't know what I'm breathing in, you know. A fire could catch my neighbor's house, you know.
"And it's just one of those things we don't want to have to deal with. Nobody wants to have to deal with this," Weeks told ABC11.
Directly across the street from the raid, where Bobbie Underwood has lived for 45 years, the retiree said he had recently met Kennerly.
"He seemed okay as far as I could tell," Underwood said. "Just a neighbor who moved in."
Asked if there was any indication that Kennerly might be hiding something dangerous, Underwood replied, "No. That never crossed my mind."
One week before the Brentwood bust Wake County Sheriff's deputies raided a home in southern Wake County where they say a mother and father were operating a meth lab with three small children in their house.
Two meth lab busts in Wake County in week may sound unusual, but it's not terribly far off the pace of 2015.
Statistics provided by the State Bureau of Investigation show that 17 labs were discovered in Wake County last year.
See a larger version of the meth map here
Raleigh police say seven of those were within the city limits and that two were in one house.
Neighboring Johnston County had the most clandestine labs of all the counties in the Triangle with 40.
Johnston County also lead the state as the No. 1 county for drug labs.
Durham County had only two, Orange had none, Harnett had 20, and Cumberland had seven.
Many who live in Raleigh's Brentwood where the bust went down last night were surprised by the number of labs found in Wake County last year.
"This is the first instance I've heard of one in Raleigh near where I live. It's, you know, it's something that I, I had no idea that that many were going on," Weeks said. "And it's just, you know ... it's very frustrating."
This afternoon when the suspects faced a judge at the Wake County Justice Center their bonds were increased.
Despite telling the judge that the methamphetamine was for personal use, Kennerly's bond went from $250,000 to $600,000. Godshall saw her bond increase from $200,000 to $500,000.
