Four Jailed In Muskogee County For Meth, Child Endangerment

Four people were arrested and four children taken into DHS custody in a Muskogee County drug bust.

Three men and one woman are charged with methamphetamine manufacture and child endangerment. They were arrested last Thursday in the Council Hill area.

Jailed are Joseph Eugene Benson, Ricky Eugene Chester, Eldon Charles Dean Jr. and Candis Nichole Eder. All four lived together in the home, according to authorities.

The four adults and four children all lived together inside this mobile home in Council Hill, that's in southern Muskogee County.

The sheriff's office says the adults were using a travel trailer on the property to make meth, using the shake and bake variety.

"It's a very volatile, dangerous method," Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said.

Sheriff Pearson says Candis Eder, Eldon Dean, Jr., Ricky Chester, and Joseph Benson were all charged with making meth and child endangerment because four young children also lived on the property, the youngest being 10 months old.

Joseph Benson and Candis Eder are the children's parents. The sheriff says the kids lived in the mobile home but also spent time in the trailer where the meth was being cooked.

James Brown is their step-grandfather.

"The kids were well fed and well took care of," Brown said. "They had some flea bites on them because, I guess, there was a dog in the house but by the time they came home that was cleared."

Sheriff Pearson says it's very possible those four kids will test positive for meth. He says even though the laws are getting tougher, the people who make meth are finding more and more ways to get around it.

"We've passed laws and enacted laws that's really slowed it down to the point where they can't make large amounts but they can make small amounts," Pearson said.

Family members of the suspects spent much of Monday clearing out the mobile home. James Brown was shocked to hear of the charges against his step-son and his friends.

"They held down jobs, took care of their family," Brown said. "Got hanging with the wrong crowd, they started running with some wrong people I guess."

Brown says he saw the group last weekend and didn't notice anything unusual. The sheriff says the group was making the meth for themselves and had several bottles of it in the trailer.