Whitewater man faces more meth charges
Comments 
Print
ELKHORN—A Whitewater man charged in a string of methamphetamine lab busts in August faced more serious charges Monday after police reportedly found him with meth waste and a partially finished batch of meth.
A Walworth County sheriff's deputy stopped Patrick A. Gerber, 37, on Oct. 19 in the parking lot of a Lake Geneva fast-food restaurant and said, “Please tell me there are not any methamphetamine precursors in this vehicle,” according to the criminal complaint.
Gerber responded, “It's all in there,” according to the complaint.
Gerber told the deputy a “partway done” batch of meth was in the car, according to the complaint. The deputy found a one-pot batch that was ready to be connected to a gas generator.
When searching the car, police also found “everything necessary to cook methamphetamine,” including a water bottle with a strip of lithium from a battery inside along with another water bottle with meth waste, according to the complaint.
Also in the car, police found a diaper-style bag with coffee filters, drain cleaner, cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, salt, camp fuel, a gas generator and a preschooler pencil case that had tools for removing lithium from a battery, according to the complaint.
A woman who was in the vehicle told police she had just bought the pseudoephedrine for Gerber. She denied knowing it would be used to make meth, according to the complaint.
Police searched Gerber's room at the Chateau Royale Inn in Lake Geneva and found a duffle bag with a bottle of liquid drain cleaner wrapped in a plastic bag and a Gatorade bottle with “a white kitty litter-type substance with black flakes mixed in," according to the complaint.
Gerber, of 370 N. Tratt St., No. 120, Whitewater, now faces felony charges in Walworth County Court of manufacturing meth, possession of waste from meth manufacturing and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the complaint.
He also faces two felony bail jumping charges in the Oct. 19 arrest because he was out on bond in connection with a felony possession of materials for manufacturing meth charge from August. He faces a third bail jumping charge because he did not appear in court Oct. 13 for a hearing on the August charge.
Gerber was charged Aug. 18 after police executed a search warrant at N6619 Anderson Drive, town of Richmond, on Aug. 2 and found meth-making materials, according to that criminal complaint. Gerber admitted to manufacturing meth at the town of Richmond residence, according to the complaint.
Within a 48-hour period at the beginning of August, the sheriff's office drug unit and local police agencies arrested three people on charges connecting them to three meth cooking sites: the town of Richmond residence, Gerber's residence and Unit No. 241 at the 370 N. Tratt St. apartment building.
One of the people arrested, David M. Coulson, 33, is charged with felonies possession of meth, drug paraphernalia and a firearm by a felon, according to online court records.
He is next due in court for a status conference at 1:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28.
The third person arrested in August was never charged.
Gerber signed a $10,000 cash bond Wednesday, according to online court records. The money has yet to be posted, so he remains in custody.
Gerber is next due in court for a preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4.
Comments Print