A motel room in the Orangeburg area burns down; deputy: manufacture of methamphetamine could be the cause | Crime and courts

Deputies believe a woman may have burned down a motel room while making methamphetamine, according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office.

The manager of the Days Inn, located at 3402 Five Chop Road, called deputies at 3 a.m. Thursday to report a suspicious fire in one of the rooms.

Surveillance video reportedly shows the woman carrying a bucket and a plastic bottle, which were on fire, out of her room and putting them on the floor near the dumpster before driving off in a black sedan.

As she “speeded away from the motel in her vehicle, fire can be seen coming through the door of the room she was renting,” a deputy wrote.

Both the bucket and the melted plastic bottle had a “white chemical residue and liquid leaking from them,” the report said.

The MP believes they were used to “do what is called a ‘one pot cook’ to produce methamphetamine”, according to the report.

The Orangeburg County Fire Marshal allegedly discovered drug paraphernalia and a number of chemicals consistent with meth manufacturing at the scene, the report said.

The motel room was a total loss. The estimated damage is valued at $20,000.

The motel manager said a woman was paying her rent in cash.