Fulton County Drug Raids Lead to Six Arrests

Meth BustA two-week long Indiana State Police investigation into drug activity in Fulton County ended with six arrests last night after officers served search warrants at three Rochester homes. A state police news release indicates the officers found methamphetamine, a meth lab, drug precursors and paraphernalia. They searched homes at 1124 Bancroft Street, 317 West 11th Street and 4729 Camp Shahola Drive in Rochester. Continue reading

Fire Destroys Fulton County Fireworks Store

  
 

A Fulton County fireworks store went up in flames last night. Firefighters were called to Windy City Fireworks just east of Rochester on State Road 14 at U.S. 31 around 10 last night and found the building fully engulfed when they arrived. Every fire department in Fulton County was called out to battle the blaze, according to WSBT-TV. Pulaski County dispatchers tell WKVI news that no requests for mutual aid from departments there were received. The fire created quite the spectacle as fireworks ignited and exploded overhead. We have not received word of any injuries, and the cause remains under investigation.

 

Redbud Trail Rendezvous Scheduled Next Weekend

Redbud Festival

The annual Redbud Trail Rendezvous in Rochester is always a sure sign that spring has sprung.

This year’s festival is scheduled April 27-29, rain or shine, at the Fulton County Historical Society Living History Village in Rochester. More than 100 historical reenactors set up camps and live outdoors during the three-day event, demonstrating traditional crafts, frontier life ways and pioneer skills like cooking over wood fires, muzzle loading shooting and tomahawk showing. Musical performances will be showcased throughout the weekend, and meals prepared over wood fires Will be served. Several of the craft demonstrators will also be selling their wares, ranging from homespun, woven items to handcrafted grapevine wreaths and baskets.

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Rochester man jailed for using fake ID to buy meth precursors

James L. Foster
James L. Foster

A Rochester man police say used a dead man’s driver’s license to buy pseudoephedrine faces identity deception charges. James L. Foster, 56, used a driver’s license issued to Paul Bennett to obtain pseudoephedrine, according to authorities. Bennett died in 2010, and somehow Foster got obtained his driver’s license. The two men have similar attributes. Pseudoephedrine is one of the main ingredients in the manufacture of methamphetamine. State law limits sales of cold medications containing pseudoephedrine in an attempt to curb meth production. Court records indicate Foster displayed Bennett’s license while signing for pseudoephedrine on four separate occasions between June 15 and Dec. 29, 2012, at a Fulton County pharmacy.

Citizens are encouraged to report suspected methamphetamine activity by calling the anonymous Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Tip Line at 1-800-453-4756.

Burglary victim arrested for growing marijuana

Damon Morris
Damon Morris
William Dorris
William Dorris
Edward Carter
Edward Carter

A Fulton County man whose rural Rochester home was recently burglarized is jailed on drug charges. Edward Carter, 53, faces three felony charges of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana over 30 grams and maintaining a common nuisance. Authorities reportedly learned of Carter’s pot growing operation last month when a state trooper stopped to aid a disabled vehicle on U.S. 31 in Fulton County. The trooper arrested the vehicle’s occupants, William Dorris, 36, and Damon Morris, 34, after he spotted five marijuana plants and electronic equipment in the vehicle’s backseat. Court records indicate the pair had stolen the items from Carter’s home. They’re charged with felony drug and burglary charges. Police say they knew Carter through his adult daughters.
Officers then went to Carter’s home to discuss the unreported burglary and discovered a hidden room with a marijuana plant stem and hydroponic growing equipment inside, according to police records. They also reportedly found a small amount of processed marijuana.