Two people with prior drug arrests are back in jail after being caught with crystal methamphetamine at a Richmond Hill hotel Monday morning.
Dustin “Wingnut” Lax, 39, of Garden City and Jamie Castro, 34, of Savannah were arrested by Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team agents and Richmond Hill police officers at the Travelodge on Highway 17 near Interstate 95.
“We had information they were there,” said Gene Harley of the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team.
Officers found crystal meth in the room where Lax and Castro were staying and took them into custody with “no issues,” Harley said.
It was CNT’s third time arresting Castro, who was out on bond from a meth-related arrest in April. Lax was arrested for the fourth time by CNT and 12th time total in Chatham County.
Castro was charged with possession of meth and taken to the Bryan County Detention Center. While she was sitting in jail, CNT agents took Lax to his home on Old Louisville Road in Garden City and searched it, according to Harley.
Agents seized crystal methamphetamine and items for manufacturing meth from Lax’s home, Harley said, as well as “various hazardous materials” and a firearm.
Lax is currently under sentence for a 2012 CNT arrest for manufacturing methamphetamine in the same house CNT searched Monday. He being held in the Chatham County Detention Center.
Lax was arrested on numerous drug-related felony charges including manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of meth and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Charges against him also are pending in Bryan County.
Lax is a member of a meth-operating operation known as the Ghost Face Gangsters, according to Harley. CNT earlier this year announced it had arrested approximately 50 members of the Ghost Face Gangsters and would continue closely monitoring the organization’s movements.
“This is CNT following through on its promise to the community to proactivity target and arrest Ghost Face Gangsters members if they choose to sell drugs and/or break the law,” CNT Director Everette Ragan said. “CNT will not allow GFG or any persons to poison or threaten our community.”