Free Meth At St. Louis, Mo. Walmart

Cops: Woman Shoplifted Ingredients and Cooked Meth Inside Walmart

•  Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY

6/10/12

CAPTION

By Associated Press

A woman in St. Louis, Mo. was arrested this week after police said she was caught shoplifting and cooking a small amount of methamphetamine inside a Walmart, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

The chemical concoction was found inside a soda bottle in the woman's purse after a Walmart employee confronted her about stealing cosmetics from the store.

Later the store's security and police discovered a 20-ounce bottle containing the drug. The Walmart was then evacuated. No one was injured.

A Walmart spokesperson said it was against company policy to cook meth on Walmart property.

A Walmart spokes-idiot emphasized Walmart would cheerfully refund the cost of any ingredients paid for by the customer prior to their use in making the meth.

The trend of cooking small quantities of meth for personal use--referred to as "one-pot" batches-- is on the rise, the paper reports.

"There are lots of one-pot cooks," St. Louis County police Lt. Mark Cox told the paper. "But taking it into Walmart is very unusual."