Tow meth cook gets 25 years

BY SETH GREEN • Daily Tribune Staff

LLANO - A Tow woman has been handed a 25-year sentence after a Llano County jury convicted her of cooking meth in her home.

The investigation stretched back to June 2006, and investigators used records that stretched back six months further, prosecutors for the 33rd State Judicial District said.

A Llano County jury of nine women and three men Monday took an hour to hand down a guilty verdict for Laura Lynn Oustad, 42, on a count of manufacturing meth and a count of possession of certain chemicals with intent to manufacture meth, according to the 33rd District Attorney’s office.

State District Judge Dan Mills presided over the case.

“I would say we had a very astute jury,” prosecutor John Couch told The Daily Tribune. “It was very astute.”

The jury sentenced Oustad to 25 years for the meth manufacturing charge and 10 years and a day for the possession charge, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office. By state law, a jury can consider probation as long as the defendant has no prior felonies on his or her record and the sentence is 10 years or less.

The sentences will run concurrently.

The state’s case against Oustad linked her residence to a clandestine meth lab, prosecutors said. Investigators served a search warrant on Oustad’s Tow home in June 2006. They found all the chemicals necessary to manufacture meth there, prosecutors said.

Also in the home, Couch said, investigators found about 16 ounces of manufactured meth.

“Between four and 200 ounces was the charge, which made it a first-degree felony,” Couch said.

At trial, Crouch said, he presented evidence that Oustad had purchased abnormally large amounts of pseudoephedrine as far back as January 2006.

“I’m not sure how long it had gone prior to that,” Crouch said. “She had been purchasing large amounts of pseudoephedrine, and we introduced records at trial for the six months prior to (June 2006).”

Drug cases can be more difficult to prosecute than other cases, 33rd State Judicial District Attorney Sam Oatman said, because investigating such cases affects personal privacy rights than other criminal investigations do.

Also, he said, TV crime dramas give rise to misconceptions regarding drug crime investigations.

Couch agreed.

“As far as the investigation, a lot of times, because of the shows on TV, juries expect to have fingerprint evidence,” Couch said. “And just because someone touches something doesn’t mean they’re going to leave a fingerprint.

Despite the volume of meth cases in the Highland Lakes, however, Couch believes this meth operation is now closed down.

“There’s no evidence that it’s an organized meth ring,” Couch said.

seth@thepicayune.com

Back to main page

Tow meth cook gets 25 years