A woman called Anaheim Police Monday after failing to reach her bedridden grandmother or the 87-year-old's caretaker by phone. Officers arrived at grandma's mobile home in the 5800 block of La Palma Avenue around 11 p.m. to find her alone–along with a meth lab. The caretaker was arrested when he returned to the home.
It turns out Thomas George Hogue is the elderly woman's nephew, according to an Orange County district attorney's office statement that lays out the felony manufacturing methamphetamine and elder- and
dependent-adult-abuse counts against the 52-year-old.
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Jan. 12, 2011
NEPHEW CHARGED WITH MANUFACTURING METHAMPHETAMINE
IN HOME SHARED WITH BEDRIDDEN 87-YEAR-OLD AUNTSANTA ANA – A nephew has been charged with manufacturing methamphetamine
in a living-room laboratory while living with his 87-year-old aunt as
her caretaker. Thomas George Hogue, 52, Anaheim, is charged with one
felony count each of manufacturing methamphetamine and elder and
dependant-adult abuse. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of
eight years in state prison. The People will be requesting $75,000 bail
at Hogue's arraignment today, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Department
CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.Hogue is accused of living in Anaheim with his bedridden 87-year-old aunt
as her caretaker. He is accused of manufacturing methamphetamine in a
laboratory in the living room of the home while the elderly victim was
confined to her bed in another room.On Jan. 10, 2011, officers from the Anaheim Police Department (APD)
discovered the methamphetamine lab while conducting a welfare check on
the defendant's aunt after receiving a call from her concerned
granddaughter, who had not heard from the victim in three months.The defendant is accused of arriving at the home later that night while
investigators were still present. He was arrested at the scene. The
elderly victim is now in the care of another family member.This case was investigated by APD and the Orange County Proactive
Methamphetamine Laboratory Investigation Team. Deputy District Attorney
Dawn Vargas-Kaliban of the Major Narcotics Unit is prosecuting this
case.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.