Super Savers Slapped With Cuffs

Couple arrested for allegedly manufacturing methamphetamine out of home

Your shopping list could land you in jail.  Once you sign up for those discount store cards, you’re being tracked -- with a single swipe it delivers great savings and info to police in one recent instance.

A couple in Lower Saucon Township may have thought they were being super savers, but Giant Food Stores flagged numerous purchases of products that could be used to make methamphetamine.  Data collected by bonus cards helped lead to the arrests of Kim Ann Hammel, 40, and David Conrad, 41.

The Drug Enforcement Agency is investigating the couple for making meth out of their home, according to The Express-Times.

Hammel had apparently used her bonus card at nine Giant stores in the Lehigh Valley between October and January to buy some of the following items, which are associated with making meth:

  • 800 coffee filters
  • 5,000 matches
  • 16 packages of Sudafed

Conrad allegedly also shopped for Sudafed at Giant pharmacies, the newspaper also noted.

The couple had been dumping trash illegally at the corner of Wassergrass Road and Susan Lane for more than a year, according to police. 

Police searched the trash Wednesday and connected it to the couple after discovering a birthday card to Conrad and a piece of mail for Hammel, along with store receipts.

The DEA and township police then raided the couple’s home, where they found a small amount of meth and meth manufacturing materials.

Two children, ages 2 and 17, lived with the couple and a 6-year-old in the home had to be treated for exposure to chemicals, according to court documents.

Hammel and Conrad were both charged with intent to manufacture methamphetamine, manufacture of a controlled substance, manufacturing methamphetamine where a child could suffer injury, and possession of red phosphorus.
 

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