Double Meth Lab Found In Wagoner Co.

Thursday, April 16th 2009, 9:43 pm
By: News On 6

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

WAGONER COUNTY, OK -- Deputies in Wagoner County have busted a double meth lab at a home near Catoosa.

The meth lab found was the 30th found in the county this year.

With each one comes an expensive cleanup costing at least $5,000, but that's nothing compared to the risk to the people cooking it and those living nearby.

Wagoner County deputies used a search warrant to crash into a home looking for a meth lab. They say a drug dealer tipped them off.

What they found made up the ingredient list for two recipes of meth. Nail polish remover, camp stove fuel and drain cleaner are part of what's required to make it.

"Since they changed the law, the pseudoephedrine law, it dropped dramatically, but they changed the ingredients, the method with the shake and bake stuff and the accelerants, and they've got it going again," Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert said.

Deputies hauled out tubs loaded with the ingredients for the recipe of shake and bake. It's mixed up in 2-liter soda bottles and requires careful attention to keep it from exploding.

There were also the fixings for a meth lab done by what's considered the old-fashioned way.

Deputies say they found two meth labs in this house, but they didn't catch the cook. They believe he was tipped off and that they just missed him.

"When we served the warrant, there was hot pizza in the oven, a cold drink on the counter and a tree knocked over just outside the back door," Colbert said.

Deputies searched every inch of the house, the attic and the crawlspace, but didn't find their suspect.

They spent much of the afternoon removing the chemicals, cataloguing and photographing what they found to make a case.

It's hazardous work prompted by the spike in meth labs -- what the sheriff says is one of the most dangerous trends he's seen in a lifetime of law enforcement.

Deputies believe a friend of the cook saw the caravan of deputies driving to the scene and tipped him off.

They called in a special team to take the chemicals, and that's what costs taxpayers so much money.