‘Rolling lab’ able to make 16,000 pills per hour busted; 4 in jail
A mobile drug lab was found in Walton County on Monday night, leading to the arrest of four young men, authorities said.
Jacks Creek Road was closed between Bethel Church Road and Old Good Hope Road due to the discovery of a "rolling pill lab," the Walton County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.
Walton County sheriff’s Maj. Damien Mercer told Channel 2 Action News the “sophisticated” equipment in the lab was capable of producing thousands of pills very quickly.
“One of the suspects said he thought it was capable of producing about 16,000 pills an hour,” Mercer said.
He estimated the equipment is worth between $15,000 and $20,000, Channel 2 reported.
The suspects, each 20 years old, were identified as Austin Marshall, Jakob Sullins, Nicholas Felker and Timothy Ballard, and they’re from the Clarke County area.
Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman told the news station they believe the alleged drug ring was going to operate out of a nearby barn.
“There’s an old barn back in the wooded area, and we believe they were going to try to set it up inside that barn,” Chapman said.
The Walton County Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in cleaning up the lab, the post said. The road has since reopened.
An investigation is ongoing.
Four suspects are in custody after Walton Co. Deputies bust a “Mobile Pill Lab” pic.twitter.com/uaP950r6Is
— Christian Jennings (@CJenningsWSB) August 7, 2018
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Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
