Four Franklin County residents arrested in a meth lab raid in June 2011 have been sentenced on federal felony charges for drug-related activities dating back five years.
Sonny L. Herbst, 46, Villa Ridge, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to 54 months in prison on felony counts of conspiracy to manufacture in excess of 50 grams of methamphetamine and possession of psuedoephedrine for the manufacture of methamphetamine, the U.S. attorney’s office reported.
Three other defendants were sentenced previously in the drug conspiracy case on one count each of felony possession of psuedoephedrine for the manufacture of methamphetamine. They are:
Holly R. Nash, 28, of Franklin and St. Louis counties, 40 months in prison; Dana S. Nash, 33, Sullivan, 37 months; and Julie A. White, 42, Villa Ridge, 36 months.
U.S. District Court Judge Catherine D. Perry sentenced all four defendants.
Federal indictments issued previously in the case alleged that the four defendants engaged in the conspiracy to manufacture and distribute meth as early as April 2007 and that the conspiracy continued through March 2012.
The four were arrested as part of an investigation conducted by the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit.
During a raid Thursday, June 23, 2011, at a Villa Ridge area home, narcotics officers found an active meth lab and took an 8-month-old baby into protective custody
Holly Nash, the child’s mother, was charged at the time with two felony counts of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of a controlled substance.
The Raid
The task force went to investigate a report of drug-related activity at a house at the end of Herbst River Road and when they arrived they smelled chemical odors coming from an open window and from under the house.
One female suspect locked the door at first, but later opened it and she and two other women came out with the baby.
Under the baby’s bed, investigators found a spoon which tested positive for meth.
The infant was examined and taken into custody by the Division of Family Services. Detectives sent the baby’s clothes to the highway patrol crime lab for testing, Briggs said.
Herbst, the tenant of the house, was later found hiding behind a washing machine with a partial meth lab. He had poured out chemicals in a room of the house.
Records showed that all four suspects had purchased pseudoephedrine cold pills in Ballwin and Fenton the day before, investigators said.
