Meth bust tells lifelong tale

A Marysville man was on oxygen after years of smoking methamphetamine when he was arrested early Monday for selling the drug, an official said.

Noel Daniel Unbankes, 53, was using a wheelchair when officers took a search warrant to his house in the 400 block of 11th Street at 8:45 a.m., said Mike Hudson, commander of the Yuba-Sutter Narcotic Enforcement Team, or NET-5.

Smoking meth apparently was the cause, or at least a contributing factor, in Unbankes developing emphysema, a condition that forces him to inject meth instead of smoke it, said Hudson.

Unbankes admitted selling meth for several years and smoking if for 15 to 20 years, said Hudson.

He apparently was living in one bedroom of the single-family residence, where officers also found a few transients staying, Hudson said.

In the bedroom, agents found a quarter ounce of meth divided between 13 small packages for sale, an electronic scale, glass pipes and pay-owe sheets.

Unbankes sold the drug throughout Marysville and the Yuba-Sutter area, Hudson said.

"These kinds of offenders are no different than gang members in lowering the community's quality of life," he said.

Unbankes "not only has destroyed his own life, he's destroyed the lives of others," he said.

Unbankes was arrested on suspicion of possessing meth for sale and maintaining a place for sales and booked into Yuba County Jail, where bail was set at $20,000.

He has one previous conviction for possessing the drug, Hudson said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com