Bakersfield, CA- Linda McClintock has fooled friends, family, and medical professionals for well over a decade. Known as a mild mannered grandmotherly type, who also suffered from Alzheimers, Linda had everyone around her duped the entire time. She never had Alzheimers, but rather used a fake diagnosis to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes while she lived two completely different lives.
Her “live-in” nurse of 8 years, Veronica Espinoza, was part of her underground drug operation and also aided in keeping Linda’s family in the dark about what was really going on. It is estimated that anywhere from 12-18 people were employed by Linda at any given time. The DEA claims over 100 pounds of meth was being made and distributed each month on McClintock’s property.
A surprise visit from a land surveyor turned out to be Linda McClintock’s undoing. The surveyor witnessed a panel van being loaded up with the illicit drug. Having seen his share of wonderments over the years, he knew well enough to call the cops before he too was accused of being somehow complicit by not alerting authorities to what he had seen.
A raid by dozens of DEA agents found an entire working lab that was in the middle of producing a 50lb. batch of methamphetamine. Linda and everyone else on the property were taken to an undisclosed location for questioning. Linda’s daughter Karissa was in complete shock, “I live in Wyoming so most of my interactions were on the phone with her nurse Veronica. Mom was always so forgetful talking with me and it was hard for me to emotionally deal with, so I found it comforting to have a conduit like Veronica. I can’t believe this whole time she was lying to me. I thought when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s that the woman I knew and loved would be slowly fading away. Little did I know I never her to begin with. I’m just so shocked and disgusted.”, said a dejected Karissa Owens.
Authorities say it may takes weeks or months to fully grasp just how far reaching Linda McClintock’s meth empire really was, “We may have just uncovered the largest meth manufacturer in the Southwest. What we have discovered so far has been shocking to say the least. Over the coming weeks and months we hope to get to the bottom of this and hopefully have some answers for the public.” – an exert from the DEA’s press release.
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