(CHARLOTTE HARBOR) Charlotte County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Port Charlotte homeless couple Monday following a search of their motor home in Charlotte Harbor for a possible Methamphetamine lab.

CCSO received a call at 10 a.m. from a witness who said a woman came out of the motor home and was yelling the trailer was going to blow up and they needed to get out of the area. The caller said the woman then stated someone was inside cooking Meth and didn’t know what he was doing. The motor home was parked next to a bakery in a vacant lot in the 2300 block of Bayshore Road.

Deputies arrived and established a perimeter around the motor home. At that time Richard Thomas Parsons, 37, and Judena Mae Shafer, 35, exited the motor home. Shafer told deputies she was mad at Parsons and was only trying to hurt him; however, both denied existence of a meth lab inside. They signed a waiver to search the motor home. CCSO Narcotics detectives were notified, along with a detective specially trained to investigate illegal drug labs.

The detective located two glass jars wrapped in cloth and each containing wadded up paper towels. The jars tested positive for Methamphetamine. Shafer said she collects the jars from the surrounding wooded areas. Deputies searched the area and located numerous items in a wooded lot that were indicative of manufacturing Meth. Both were transported to the Charlotte County Jail and charged with Possession of Controlled Substance (Methamphetamine); they remain in jail on $2,500 bond. The motor home was towed for safe keeping.

Anyone with knowledge of illegal drug activity is asked to please call the CCSO Narcotics Unit at 941-575-2157, or Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477).