2 face drug charges at fatal SC fire scene

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Two men have been charged with attempting to make methamphetamine at a Goose Creek apartment building that was destroyed in a fire that killed three people.

The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office says 39-year-old Shonni Segrest Abernathy and 33-year–old Jerald Edward McCabe also are charged with exposing a child to materials used to make the drug.

Abernathy is the father of 19-year-old Morgan Abernathy who died in the May 31 fire. A 69-year-old man and a 4-year-old boy were also killed.

Investigators found evidence of a meth lab in the rubble but the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Sixteen units were destroyed at the Pine Harbor apartments and 36 people, including 17 youngsters, lost their homes.