A former Darien couple were sentenced to two years and four years, respectively, in state prison for manufacturing meth in 2015.
Heather A. Opper, 29, now of Wilton, pleaded guilty to manufacturing amphetamine and neglecting a child and was sentenced Jan. 29 to two years in state prison, two years extended supervision and nine months in local jail. Charges of possession of drug paraphernalia to manufacture meth, felony bail jumping and an additional count of child neglect against her were dismissed.
Joshua J. Kieckhefer, 34, now of Lake Geneva, also pleaded guilty to manufacturing amphetamine and was sentenced Nov. 5, 2015, to four years in state prison and four years extended supervision. Charges of possession of drug paraphernalia to manufacture meth, possession of marijuana and two counts of neglecting a child against him were dismissed.
According to the criminal complaint, local, state and federal law enforcement agents searched Opper and Kieckhefer’s Fifth Street apartment in Darien on March 10, 2015, and found a one-pot meth cook going on in the kitchen in a two-liter soda bottle. In the freezer were four two-liter soda bottles that contained remains of old meth cooks known as methamphetamine waste, according to the complaint.
In Opper and Kieckhefer’s bedroom, police found four more soda bottles that tested positive for ammonia, 1.92 grams of marijuana, 18 used syringes; pseudoephedrine tablets, lithium batteries, coffee filters with white residue, a coffee grinder with white residue, Coleman camper fuel and paint thinner – all items used to manufacture methamphetamine, according to the complaint.
Police noted that two children – ages 7 and 9 – were living in the apartment but no food was in the residence other than two bags of cereal and soda and the bath appeared to not have been used for a while, according to the complaint.
Opper was stopped in her vehicle after she left the apartment with the children and admitted she obtained cold medicine to help Kieckhefer manufacture meth but said she didn’t allow him to make meth while the children were in the apartment, according to the complaint.
Opper was under bond conditions at the time on a Milwaukee County charge of possession of narcotic drugs.
