Westwood House Was Meth Shop, Say Police – March 1, 2011
Evidence collected at the Stromberg Avenue house.
Kevin L. Hoover
Eye Editor
WESTWOOD – In response to numerous neighborhood complaints, officers from the Arcata Police Department’s Special Services Unit, assisted by the Humboldt County Probation Department, conducted a probation check on a residence in the 1200 block of Stromberg Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
During a check of the residence, officers allegedly located nearly half an ounce of crystal methamphetamine, packaging materials and almost $800 in cash.
Sheila Eacret, 50, of Arcata was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Jail for possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine for sale and probation violations.
Det. Sgt. Todd Dokweiler said the APD action was in response to complaints by “a number of neighbors for some time.” Activity that annoyed the neighbors included people constantly coming and going on foot and by vehicles at all hours, from early morning to late an night.
Arcata Police verified the volume of visitors with surveillance before obtaining the search warrant. “These things take some time to develop,” Dokweiler said.
Eacret was on non-revocable parole for a prior meth conviction. The anguish evident in her mug shot is reflected on her Facebook page, where she wrote of the drug’s domination of her life.
Sheila Eacret
“I am still figuring out what I like,” Eacret wrote. “I wasted most of my life on speed and have done a lot of jail and prison time now I am trying to live my life differently. I have almost five years clean and sober and I really don’t know what I like yet. I am learning that there are some good people in the program, but I need to learn to have fun. There’s life after drugs and alcohol and I know I have a lot to offer. I got my family back and can help in ways I couldn’t before.”
Eacret’s son, Raymond, is imprisoned in the California Institution for Men in Chino on a meth conviction. His Facebook page expresses similar meth-dependence frustrations.
“Come on mom, let’s bond,” he wrote. “One of the craziest ones was when my mom would say, ‘You need to go to a program.’ I would say, ‘I don’t need a program, I need a whole gram.’ It’s not so funny anymore after being locked up since I was 18 because of a addiction that gets the best of me, but I am hoping that I can do this and stop living on the inside. I hope this is my last time being away from everything and everyone I know. I don’t know any other life but I want one.”
