Meth lab discovered in Sullivan trailer park

UPDATE 11/06:

Additional charges have been filed against Cynthia Laura Baumgardner, the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department notified us today.

These new charges include:
*Manufacturing of Methamphetamine
*Felony Drug Paraphernalia
*Maintaining a Dwelling where Narcotics are Used or Sold
*Possession of Schedule III Narcotics
*Possession of Schedule VI

Baumgardner remains in the Sullivan County Correctional Facility with a $50,000 bond.

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities happened upon a meth lab in a Sullivan County trailer park Thursday afternoon when they arrived to serve a warrant for failing to appear in court on a traffic charge.

Cynthia Baumgardner, 43, was arrested in her double-wide trailer at the end of Deck Valley Road, alongside U.S. Highway 11W, after an officer “saw what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab in the kitchen,” according to a statement issued by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.

The home is set high on a hill in a far back lot of Roller Hills Park; it is surrounded by heavy brush and invisible from the street. A rickety gravel driveway stretches up the side of the hill, bends to the left where a “no trespassing” sign is tacked to a tree and curves out of sight.

Neighbors said a woman lived there with her son until he recently moved out; she has been living alone since.

They also said she usually drove a white Jeep, but once a week, generally on the weekend, she left in a maroon truck, with a huge barrel in the bed.

“She was going to stock up,” the neighbor said. “Once she asked me for a ride to the drug store. Unh-unh.”

And every night, 20 to 30 cars drove up the rickety drive, they said.

“We knew what they were coming for, we could smell it,” one neighbor said. “I always said if I set up a toll booth and took money from everybody that came through here, I’d never have to get a job again.”

One neighbor said that after a car came crashing into their lawn, they moved their kids’ swing set away to keep their children from playing near the woman’s driveway.

They also said they told their landlord, who oversees the house busted Thursday, but the landlord didn’t seem to care.

A woman answered the phone number posted on the park’s entrance sign. She identified herself as the park’s owner, but declined to provide her name or comment on the bust.

Neighbors said they also mentioned their concerns to a police officer who once came through the park for an unrelated reason, but they never formally reported the chemical smells and all-night stream of cars.

On Thursday, authorities ran media and curious neighbors off the property, citing safety concerns. But deputy cruisers, ambulances and “spill response” trailers ambled up and down the steep driveway all afternoon. A man dressed in an all white, hooded hazmat suit, with yellow rubber boots duct taped at the top, went up on foot.

The sheriff’s office said its vice and narcotics officers were assisted by several other agencies, including the State of Tennessee Meth Task Force, Sullivan County EMS, the Kingsport hazmat teams and the Sullivan County Volunteer Fire Department.

Meanwhile another neighbor couple said the bust scared, but didn’t surprise them.

“There’s so much traffic, so much traffic because of the drugs,” a woman said. “They’re all over, in front, behind, beside us. I remember when we used to not lock our doors. Now I will not ever lay down in my house with a window open.”

Baumgardner is being held at the Sullivan County Correctional Facility. She is currently charged only with failure to appear, but Sullivan County Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Elton said she will be in court this morning.

“By that time, there will be more charges,” Elton said. “We’re still sorting through that.”

cgalofaro@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531