NEWS

Police find pounds of meth, $26,000 in Springfield home

Harrison Keegan
HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Police say they seized an active meth lab, 2.5 pounds of meth and more than $26,000 from a Springfield home.

Mark Wampler

Search warrant documents say the Springfield Police Department SWAT team raided a home at 1042 W. Stanford St. on March 31 and found the drugs and cash.

The documents say police were tipped off to the haul by a confidential informant, and they had also been conducting surveillance at the residence — often seeing vehicles come and go after short visits.

After the drug seizure, Mark Wampler, 41, a resident of the home, was arrested. He has since been released.

In 2013, Wampler pleaded guilty to a drug charge. He was sentenced to five years probation in that case.

Prosecutors filed a motion on the day of the drug seizure asking for Wampler's probation to be revoked and for him to be held in jail until a hearing could be held on the matter.

Judge Peggy Davis, the drug court commissioner for Greene County, instead released Wampler with the condition that he attend a drug treatment program. He has a court appearance related to the probation revocation scheduled for June.

If the court determines Wampler violated his probation, it could trigger a prison sentence up to 15 years.

Wampler has not been charged in connection with the March 31 raid.

It's not uncommon in large-scale drug investigations for authorities to hold off on filing charges after seizures as they build a case. Drug cases also oftentimes require lab testing, which takes time.