Quantcast

WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Mother maintains innocence of Pocahontas meth fugitive

CHARLESTON – A man wanted by authorities in Pocahontas County for his alleged role in the manufacture of methamphetamines there was arrested by police in South Charleston earlier this month during a routine traffic stop in which they found meth in his possession.

The man's mother, however, says he has nothing to do with illegal drug making, and was never really a fugitive.

According to court records, Shawn Wesley Buzzard was traveling in a Honda Accord Tues., June 3 from the Dunbar Toll Bridge into South Charleston. After Buzzard turned onto Kentucky Avenue, Patrolman M. R. Arrowood of the South Charleston Police Department noticed the car's registration plate was expired.

Before Arrowood could stop him, Buzzard turned onto Indiana Ave. where he stopped in front of 5217 and opened the hood of the car. After he pulled in behind Buzzard and activated his emergency lights, Arrowood asked Buzzard for the car's registration and proof of insurance.

When Buzzard could not produce them, Arrowood informed him the car would have to be towed. Also, Arrowood informed Buzzard that an inventory of the vehicle would have to be performed before he could retrieve any personal belongings out of it.

With the assistance of Patrolman C.A. Cook, Arrowood found materials in the car and on Buzzard's possession consistent with the manufacturing of meth. According to court records, those materials included boxes of Sudafed and Aleve-D, bottles of acetone and peroxide, empty matchbooks and a smoking pipe.

Also, court records show, Cook found a small plastic box in the car containing a white powdery substance that later field-tested positive for methamphetamine.

Buzzard was arrested, and transported to the South Central Regional Jail. Records show he was charged with expired registration, no proof of insurance and attempting to operate a clandestine laboratory.

Prior to his preliminary hearing Wednesday, Buzzard's mother, Mary K. Cyrus, spoke out about the allegations leveled against him both in Pocahontas and Kanawha counties. In both circumstances, she says he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Meth belonged to someone else

Regarding the allegations he operated the meth lab in Pocahontas County, in which she has also been indicted, Cryus said all that was Jody Johnson's business. According to Cyrus, Johnson was hired to help build a storage shed on the property.

When she discovered Johnson was doing more than building a shed, she told him to pack his things and get back to St. Albans. However, by that time West Virginia State Police raided Cyrus' property and charged both she and Johnson with operating a meth lab.

Since then, Johnson has plead guilty to one count of attempting to operate a meth lab while Cyrus has vowed to fight the charges.

Likewise, Cyrus said the meth found in Buzzard's car belonged to the woman it bought it from. However, she could not remember who the woman was.

Though she never gave an explanation as to why he didn't turn himself into police after his indictment in Pocahontas County, Cyrus said Buzzard has in no way attempted to elude authorities. As he has for over a decade, Cyrus says Buzzard has lived with her at their home on Coal River Road in St. Albans.

The property in Pocahontas County, which is located more toward Hillsboro on Beaver Creek, is a summer getaway that's been in her family for 35 years. According to Cyrus, she bought it when she was 18 and gave it to her father, Phillip E. Cyrus, that year for Christmas.

The property, Cyrus says, was willed back to her after Phillip died in 2001.

Buzzard never appeared in court as on the advice of his court-appointed counsel, Assistant Kanawha County Public Defender Theresa Chisholm, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. His case is now bound over to the Kanawha County grand jury.

It was not there immediately clear if Buzzard would be returned to Pocahontas County to face charges there before the grand jury considers the charges against him in Kanawha County. Pocahontas County Prosecuting Attorney Walt W. Weiford was not immediately available for comment.

Regardless, Buzzard remains incarcerated pending $15,000 bail.

Kanawha Magistrate Court, Case Nos. 08-F-1919 and 08-M-7818 & 7819

ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS STORY

More News