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Terrebonne sheriff’s deputies along with state troopers and Lafourche deputies took down a major local methamphetamine supplier last week, in an operation that netted the largest local seizure veteran officers can recall.
Christopher Reding, 48, 5314 W. Main St., was arrested Friday morning as officers executed a search warrant at a nearby property, 5292 W. Main St., which was an outbuilding he controlled.
A total of 70 pounds of methamphetamine was seized, Larpenter said, along with $1,860 in currency and $140 in counterfeit bills. According to police estimates the product seized had a street value of anywhere between $700,000 and $1 million.
“This was a major distributor that we took off the streets, a major player,” Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said. “This guy is as much of a threat as someone that shoots somebody. Can you imagine how many brains he has destroyed, how many families he has torn apart?”
Street value is determined by estimating known value of a raw product and multiplying that by how many times it can be “stepped on,” in drug parlance, or blended with non-drug materials to increase the profit margin.
Warrants were sought as a result of undercover buys of meth from Reding, said law enforcement officials, who described the Houma man as a distributor who sold to lower-echelon dealers, but was also known to make individual retail transactions to people he knew.
Police sources said that in the past Reding had bragged he could “step on” his meth as much as three times and still have a potent and salable product.
Unlike the methamphetamine manufactured in local laboratories, the quality and quantity of the product seized from Reding was likely imported.
“Here we go again,” Larpenter said. “This is coming out of Mexico, here we go with the Mexican connection.”
Crystal methamphetamine, known as “ice,” is increasingly coming from so-called “superlabs” in Mexico, according to information supplied by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The product sells for up to $200 per gram on the street. Just one ounce provides about 30 effective doses.
Ironically, the influx of meth from Mexico is due in part to the success states including Louisiana have had in reducing the ability for homegrown “mom and pop” distributors. This has been done by restricting purchases of large quantities of over-the-counter medicines containing the building blocks of the drug.
Reding was arrested in 2002 for felony drug possession, court records show, and received four years probation with a $5,000 fine. In 2012, he was arrested for drug distribution, a case which is still pending in the Terrebonne Parish courts.
Relatives of Reding living in Houma, reached by telephone this weekend, said they were aware that he has had problems with authorities but had no knowledge of his distribution operation.
Reding’s wife and his 14-year-old son were present when the warrants were executed but they were not suspected of illegal activities. Police said they do not live in the house with Reding.
He was booked at the Terrebonne Parish jail on two counts of methamphetamine distribution, possession with intent to distribute more than six pounds of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, monetary instrument abuse and failure to possess a drug tax stamp.
He is being held in the Terrebonne Parish jail in lieu of $2.2 million bond.
In addition to the seizure of drugs, money and counterfeit currency, authorities seized three vehicles for potential forfeiture, 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 3500, 2007 Harley Davidson super glide motorcycle and a custom made 2007 motorcycle.
An investigation of Reding’s operation continues.
Authorities seized 70 pounds of methamphetamine along with $1,860 in currency and $140 in counterfeit bills in Terrebonne Parish’s largest meth bust last week. Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said the drugs have a street value between $700,000 and $1 million.
