Meth Lab Material Discovered In Car

A man arrested earlier this week for eluding Bonner County sheriff’s deputies on a county road was transporting a methamphetamine laboratory in his car, according to law enforcement officers.

Williams Charles Casteel, 29, of Hayden was arrested Tuesday after losing a foot chase to a Bonner County sheriff’s deputy.

The deputy was turning to follow Casteel on Selle Road when Casteel took off in his Jeep Wagoneer at a high rate of speed, according to sheriff’s officials. The Jeep was unable to climb an off-road hill, so Casteel ran away on foot, said Undersheriff Nick Krager.

Casteel initially was arrested on a felony eluding charge and warrants out of Kootenai County.

Bonner County’s Drug Task Force obtained a search warrant for the car and, on Thursday, found all the makings for methamphetamine, said George Gow of the task force.

“The task force from outside could smell the chemicals in the car,” Gow said.

Casteel is expected to be charged with drug manufacturing as a result of the search. He’s also wanted on drug charges in Kootenai County, which issued a warrant with a $10,000 bond for failing to appear on a possession of methamphetamine charge.

Other warrants were for a parole violation, for carrying a concealed weapon and driving while his license was suspended.

Methamphetamine manufacturing arrests are becoming more common in Bonner County, even though laboratories are difficult to find because they move frequently, Gow said.

In 1996, the county task force made one laboratory bust, but so far this year the task force has busted 13 labs, Gow said.

The biggest one was last week’s laboratory in a rented vacation cabin on Lakeshore Drive south of Sandpoint. One of the manufacturing suspects was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy when she pulled a gun on Krager, and two other suspects were arrested at the scene.

The lab contained about 11 pounds of methamphetamine and several pounds of ephedrin, an essential ingredient, Gow said.

To keep up with the workload, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department is requesting that the county hire another narcotics detective. In addition, the agency is hoping to purchase special gas masks for officers who must enter methamphetamine laboratories.

“We’re going to see more and more of it,” Krager predicted.