MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) – What you throw away can and will be used against you in a court of law.
The evidence that police found in the trash outside a Merrill home led prosecutors Tuesday to charge three residents with possession of methamphetamine and possession of the narcotic morphine. Some of the suspects are also facing possession of drug paraphernalia and bail jumping charges.
Lincoln County Judge Glenn Hartley agreed that George Hill, Mellisa Lemke and LeAnna Wells can be released on a $5,000 signature bond. But they cannot leave the county without a judge's approval and both Lemke and Wells must obey an overnight home curfew.
Hartley also ordered Lemke, who has three children, to cooperate with social workers. The Lincoln County department of social services put a 6-year-old child in protective custody after the search.
Police sifted through bags of trash put on the curb for pickup outside Wells' home each week in September and found empty syringes, empty prescription pill bottles, plastic baggies used to package illegal drugs and tinfoil “follies” used to ingest both meth and heroin.
The contraband gave police enough evidence to apply for a search warrant that they executed Monday at the home on the 400 block of East 6th Street. Police found much of the same evidence inside the home that they had found in the trash thrown outside, including syringes, morphine pills and other drug paraphernalia. The search warrant was included in court documents made public Tuesday.
“We're going to use whatever is legally available to us to our full extent to get the information that we need,” sheriff's Lieutenant Mark Gartmann said in an interview. Gartmann played a key role in the investigation with the Merrill police department.
“I wouldn't say it was a major bust, but it wasn't a minor bust either,” Gartmann said. “Every single bust that we investigate is pretty substantial,” adding that it leads investigators to other players in the local drug scene.
