Check On Child Turns Up Meth Lab

A Kootenai County sheriff’s deputy accompanying a state social worker to check on a child found what appears to be a meth lab.

“The child wasn’t here. The suspect was,” said Special Agent George Phillips of the state’s Criminal Investigations Bureau.

Kenneth William Simpson, 47, of Rathdrum was booked into the county jail on suspicion of manufacturing and possessing a controlled substance, both felonies.

Sheriff’s deputies saw chemicals and glassware inside the trailer that suggested a meth lab, Phillips said. Deputies called state officials, who obtained a search warrant, Phillips said.

For nearly five hours, authorities from four agencies searched Simpson’s white trailer perched on a hillside at the corner of Hidden Valley Road and Song Bird Lane.

They found small amounts of what appeared to be methedrine and chemicals used to process the drug, Phillips said.