Bakersfield meth house busted

Four suspects were arrested and are now charged following a Jan. 8 drug bust at John Zastrow’s house in Bakersfield, where officers turned up 430 grams of methamphetamine, more than $1,700 in cash, illegal firearms, syringes and more. 

Court documents note that a juvenile was also living in the home for some time prior to the bust.

John Zastrow

John Zastrow, 34, of the Bakersfield home, is being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond and is facing the most serious set of charges between the trio.

He is charged with the class A felony of trafficking drugs, a charge that, if convicted, could net him 10 to 30 years or life in prison. He’s also charged with unlawful use of a weapon (possessing a weapon and a felony-level controlled substance at the same time), keeping or maintaining a public nuisance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. 

He is represented by Public Defender Chase Opolka, who requested that his bond be reduced during a Jan. 21 hearing before Associate Judge Raymond Gross. That request was denied and he remains in jail. 

Tammy Zastrow

John’s aunt Tammy Zastrow, 41, also of Bakersfield, is charged with possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with the bust. 

Josh Brown of Pointer Blackburn and Brown has filed his appearance as her attorney, contracted on behalf  of the public defender’s office.

Her attorney also requested that her bond be reduced, and she was granted supervised bond release on her own recognizance. That means that, although she didn’t have to pay any money toward the bond, she was required to sign a form that stated that she would follow a set of rules. 

Those require that she appear for all court hearings, be supervised and pay for supervision by Court Probationary Services which includes weekly drug screening, remain at home except to go to or seek work, meet with her attorney, travel for court purposes, medical care, pharmaceutical needs, groceries or subsistence matters, have no contact with anyone on probation or parole, bond or who have been convicted or charged with felonies except those required by law (Chad McKee and John Zastrow), not consume alcohol or drugs and not leave the state except for work or medical appointments.

Andrew Fienhold

Andrew Fienhold, who was living in a camper trailer on the Zastrow property, has been charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance (meth and hydrocodone) and one count of unlawful use of a weapon (possessing a weapon and a felony-level controlled substance at the same time). 

Public defender Chase Opolka has filed as his attorney. He was originally held on a $5,000 bond, but Judge Gross granted his release on his own recognizance Jan. 21, with supervision by Court Probationary Services. His rules for release were the same as Tammy’s.

John Fienhold

A post on the Ozark County Sheriff’s Facebook page says that John Fienhold was also arrested and booked for felon in possession of a firearm, possession of meth and paraphernalia and unlawful use of a weapon as a result of the search warrant. A case for him is not yet publicly available through Missouri’s online court documents, so further details cannot be provided. 

Details of the bust

According the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Deputy Josh Sherman, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, the Ozark County Special Enforcement Team (SET) executed a residential search warrant at the Zastrow home in Bakersfield after a judge signed  to order officers to search all structures, cars, trailers and campers on the property. 

John Zastrow reportedly walked out of the house as they were securing the property and told officers that he had resided at the house for a long time and explained where his bedroom was. The bedroom was secured, which he confirmed through digital access/bluetooth. It was only accessible to him. 

Inside the bedroom officers found 430 grams of methamphetamine, packaged in various weights, a USPS shipping package that was addressed to John Zastrow, eight syringes including one that was loaded with 40ccs, four spoons, three glass smoking devices, a glass mirror, a veteran card and several containers. All items listed field-tested positive for methamphetamine.

Tammy was located inside her home, along with her daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s child, the report says. She was handcuffed and sat on the couch while the search warrant was executed. Deputy Hunter Ryan asked her if there was anything in the house he should know about, and she reportedly said no. Later, when she was being placed into the OCSD transport van, she told a deputy that there was a pipe inside, which was over a year old. 

Officers found the glass pipe, which had a white residue, along with a clear plastic baggie with a white substance inside that field-tested positive for meth in her dresser drawer. Next to the dresser was a pink box with Tammy’s name on it, and credit and debit cards and her ID were also found in the same room with her name on them. 

Lt. Matt Rhoades conducted a search of Fienhold’s camper trailer on the same property. He said that Fienhold walked out of the camper to the officers and confirmed that the trailer was his. 

Inside, officers found a .22 bolt action rifle, 7.3 grams of meth in two bags, three glass meth pipes, one straw and two hydrocodone pills without a prescription.