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CORNISH, Cache County — A Cache County man faces 22 criminal charges in a drugs and weapons investigation.
Kelly Naegle, 57, is charged with the operation of a clandestine laboratory, a first-degree felony; two counts of possession or use of a controlled substance and 15 counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; and three counts of unlawfully possessing a dangerous weapon, a class A misdemeanor.
When police arrived at a house just south of the Idaho border on Feb. 1, they were looking for receipts on a shipment of coca tea.
While serving a search warrant, the Cache-Rich Drug Task Force found more than 20 guns, two boxes of chemical beakers and lab equipment with "white powder residue" on them, according to a police booking affidavit.
Naegle told police they were remnants of an old meth lab he had hidden in boxes "so family would not find them," the affidavit states. When Naegle was detained, police say he had two baggies of methamphetamine and a pipe in his pocket, and he allegedly admitted to ordering coca tea on the internet.
Naegle thought he was allowed to have the guns, as his past felony charges "were so long ago," and he just never went through the process of having his prior criminal history expunged, police said in the arrest report.
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Collin Leonard
