Joseph M. Navarre, 43, and Melissa Dorothy O'Brien, 22, both of Lansford, were charged with operating a methamphetamine lab in their home.

Their 7-month-old child consumed a laundry detergent pod of the drug.The couple faces many charges including operating a meth lab and illegal dumping of waste, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.Medical testing results confirmed that the child had consumed meth. The child was taken into custody by Children and Youth by court order.After obtaining a search warrant for the home, Sgt. Jack Soberick found several plastic bottles with vinyl tubing attached, an active one-pot cooker in the process of producing meth, plastic bottles with residue along with other items conclusive to operating a meth lab.O'Brien and Navarre pleaded guilty in April.Virginia Vesay, 61; Jessie L. Vesay, 27; Deborah A. Kramer, 49; and Angela M. Kramer, 23, were all charged for their involvement in fraudulently obtaining 9,180 powerful prescription pills.Virginia Vesay, a former physician assistant, purported to be working from a Maryland doctor's office when she called in or wrote prescriptions for the Kramers, Ronald Vesay and herself.Jessie Vesay and Angela Kramer picked up the pills. The prescriptions included Vicodin and Lorazepam.Seventeen drug dealers or users were arrested and three others were confirmed as already in confinement in the largest drug sting in the Tamaqua area in years."We've been working on this since last October," Tamaqua Police Chief Rick Weaver said.According to charges, the primary drugs appeared to be heroin and methamphetamine. The operations involved multiple police and county vehicles and a passenger van to transport groups of suspects to county jail.Crystal Joy Milner, 30, of Tamaqua, was sent to the Schuylkill County Prison in Pottsville after being caught with a large amount of methamphetamine and heroin in her purse.She was on her way to the East End Playground when a state agent contacted police saying he had an active warrant for her arrest.Officers found 18 bags of methamphetamine, 52 wax packets containing heroin, empty plastic bags, a bag of rubber bands, a scale and a pack of syringes.Milner was charged with two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.- Amanda Treible