Lawton_Police have uncovered two
working meth labs in a house in downtown Lawton. The chemicals in the
air were so strong that investigators had to wait almost six hours
before carrying out a search warrant. Seven people were taken in for
questioning.
This isn't the first time the house at the corner of Southwest 10th and "H" Avenue has been investigated, and the people inside were no strangers to meth either. In December, 2007, a meth lab explosion in the house's shed landed one man in the hospital
and nine people in jail. Police evacuated the neighborhood after
discovering a tank containing anhydrous ammonia exploded in a shed
sending toxic gas spewing into the air.
An officer patrolling
the area Thursday at around 4:30 a.m. said the chemical smell was so
strong he was compelled to call it in. The fire department was called
to test the air, and the numbers came back so dangerously high that
investigators had to wait hours before searching the house. "[We]
wanted to get all the occupants out so we could start ventilating the
dwelling," said Lawton Police Department Special Operations Lieutenant
Todd Palmer.
This particular meth lab was extremely dangerous
because there were two separate locations for cooking the drug.
"They're all dangerous regardless of size," said Palmer. "We had two
separate dwellings were we did have the methamphetamine lab." The
people removed from the home looked on as the fire department cleared
the house, and special operations began making trip after trip to
remove the hazardous materials. "[We found] Ephedrine, we found HCL,
generator - or parts thereof - the ether and other paraphernalia,
butane torches, pipes that are used to smoke methamphetamine, marijuana
and assorted paraphernalia related to that," said Palmer.
One
bit of evidence puzzled police. A contraption that looked to be a tank
with a pipe attached to it. "We didn't exactly know [what it was], it
hasn't been used, and it looked like either something that they had
just made up or brought to this location," said Palmer.
Tommy Ward
lives in the home, and also played a part in the meth lab explosion
last year. "He is going to be charged with maintaining a dwelling
because of past occurrences. Not only this time, but others," Palmer
said. The City of Lawton's neighborhood services to investigate
whether or not the home should be condemned for safety and health.
Source: KSWO