Police Believe Search Turned Up 17th Meth Lab Three Houses Searched, Seven People Arrested On Drug Charges
Narcotics officers may have found the makings of a methamphetamine lab.
Chemicals in 30 containers discovered in a Dalton Gardens home last Friday appear to be the supplies for a methamphetamine lab - the 17th to be busted in Idaho this year.
Robert F. Ellis was arrested at the house at 7816 Baille Ave. He was charged Monday with possession of methamphetamine after Idaho Bureau of Narcotics officers found a syringe with the drug in it, said special agent Wayne Longo.
Ellis could face more serious drug manufacturing charges if lab tests confirm the chemicals in his home are those used to make methamphetamine, Longo said.
Ellis’ house was one of three Kootenai County homes to be searched for methamphetamine and other drugs on Friday. And he was one of seven people to be arrested during those searches.
“Meth seems to be the real drug of choice right now,” said Glenn Ford, state narcotics bureau chief. “We’re just about inundated with it.”
The number of methamphetamine labs seized by Idaho police has increased more than five times since last year, he said.
Police seized just three labs in 1994.
The number of meth cases handled by the Kootenai County Drug Task Force has more than doubled from 31 in 1994 to 73 so far this year.
“There’s more out there than we can deal with,” Ford said. “We’re hardly making a dent in it.”
On Friday, drug specialists began their day with a 6:30 a.m. search of a home on East Garwood Road. Later in the day another search was conducted on Anton Avenue.
Small amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana were found at those two homes.
But when officers searched Ellis’ home at about 4 p.m. Friday they found mayonnaise jars, gallon and 2-gallon jars filled with liquid, Longo said.
The containers were not marked, so officials don’t know for sure what is in most of them.
However, they did find hydrochloric acid and lye drain cleaner - chemicals Longo said are often used to make methamphetamine.
Cleaning up a suspected methamphetamine lab is an expensive and dangerous process because the chemicals are often toxic, Longo said.
The other suspects arrested Friday made their first appearances in court on Monday, jail officials said.
Wesley D. Redden, 27, of Hayden; Tony D. Byers, 25, of Rathdrum; and David J. Brown, 32, of Hayden, were charged with conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine. Russell McArthur, 27, of Hayden, and Jeff Guydos, 31, of Coeur d’Alene, were charged with possession of marijuana. Annette Tipton, 29, of Coeur d’Alene, was charged with probation violation and faces pending drug charges.
, DataTimes