Man, woman face meth-making charges in Elkhart

WSBT and Tribune Staff Report

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Joseph Buelna and Kammi Pantoja (Photos provided)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Oct 14, 2008 at 2:34 PM EST

Story Updated: Oct 14, 2008 at 2:52 PM EST

ELKHART — Police arrested a man and a woman Monday night on suspicions of manufacturing methamphetamine.

Police were called to the 100 block of South Shore Drive about 9:50 p.m. on a tip about a possible drug house. Police observed a light on an upstairs window and a ladder up against the house, which is vacant.

When an officer climbed the ladder, he noticed 38-year-old Joseph Buelna of Elkhart standing over chemicals that were cooling on a portable stove, police said. Buelna attempted to flee the officer but was arrested in the same room. Officers also found a handgun near the drugs.

As Elkhart officers waited for the Indiana State Police to respond to the scene, 25-year-old Kammi Pantoja of West Virginia parked near the house and approached officers on foot. She appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to police.

Pantoja failed several field sobriety tests, but a breath test found her BAC to be .00%. She refused to go to the hospital and submit to a blood test, so she was arrested for OWI-Refusal. While officers were impounding her car, they located a mobile meth lab in the trunk of her car, police said.

Both Buelna and Pantoja were arrested on preliminary charges of manufacturing of meth.

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