by KATE SHUNNEY
A Hancock woman who had been reported missing on February 8 and was the subject of a police search has been released from the Eastern Regional Jail and permitted by the court to return to Hancock under bond supervision.
Brandy Lee Croasmun, 26, was arrested on March 27 in Martinsburg and charged with operating a clandestine drug lab and felony conspiracy.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Department had considered Croasmun a missing person until authorities determined she was actually in jail in Martinsburg, W.Va. in March.
Croasmun was arrested by the Martinsburg Police Department in late March with two other individuals. According to a criminal complaint filed in Berkeley County Magistrate Court, officers were called to an abandoned residence on Centre Street in Martinsburg after multiple reports of people trespassing there.
A complaint filed by Detective J.R. Smith said officers detected a strong chemical spell as they approached the structure. Inside, they located a male coming down from a second floor and two females upstairs. Officers found plastic bottles, funnels, batteries, Drano and other material used in the manufacture of methamphetamine throughout the house and on a deck outside.
Croasmun was jailed in lieu of a $220,000 bond at the time of her arrest. A Berkeley County court agreed on April 27 to reduce her bond to $15,000 and she was released from the Eastern Regional Jail under bond supervision. The court agreed to let Croasmun reside in Hancock while her case moves through the court.
