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Defense claims accused meth cooker set up.

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer 4:19 PM Monday, June 29, 2009

The defense is claiming a conspiracy theory in the trial of accused Deerfield Twp. meth manufacturer Joseph Wiggins.

The jury in the Wiggins trial was empaneled at around 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 29, in a Warren County Common Pleas courtroom. Wiggins, 44, stands accused on 17 counts involving drugs, guns and child endangering charges.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic violence complaint at the Wiggins residence on Davis Road in Deerfield Twp. at around 10 a.m. March 14. According to court testimony, Wiggins answered the door, holding his 8-month-old daughter in his arms.

After searching the home and a shed, police found a meth lab, heroin, marijuana, illegal prescription drugs and 21 fire arms. Wiggins did time in prison a few years ago on similar charges, thus he is not allowed to have firearms.

Warren County Sheriff’s deputies trundled the confiscated weapons, in all shapes and sizes, into court on Monday in a shopping cart.

Wiggins’ attorney Kevin Thornton told the jurors Wiggins was set up by his former live-in girlfriend and a former friend. The girlfriend Denise a.k.a. Dora Cook made the domestic violence report the day before the bust. Thornton said Wiggins had been very ill for a while and was trying to kick his drug habit.

Thornton said Cook threatened Wiggins she would set him up and get his children taken from him if he got out of the drug business. He said Wiggins begged police to look for his friend, because he was the one cooking meth in the shed. But both Cook and the friend are now on the run, Thornton said.

“These people got what they were looking for,” he said. “They got Mr. Wiggins in that seat, and they got him out of their way.”

The trial is expected to last two, possibly three days. Wiggins remains at the Warren County Jail on $320,000 bond.

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