METH LAB RAID NETS THREE POLICE SEEK FOURTH MAN.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Narcotics investigators were working double time Wednesday night after the discovery of two methamphetamine labs, followed by a short car chase and a long search for one suspect in the desert.

Three people were arrested at a lab found in Acton, but a man who had methamphetamine lab equipment as well as drugs in the trunk of his car ran into the desert outside Littlerock and has not yet been located.

``It was another busy night,'' said Sgt. Tony Hollins of the North County Clandestine Meth Lab Task Force.

Investigators with the Palmdale sheriff's station's narcotics unit served a search warrant at a home in the 35500 block of Crown Valley Road after receiving information from Acton deputies of a suspected lab.

When they arrived, they discovered a small lab as well as one or two ounces of the finished product.

Investigators arrested Eric Halversen, 32, of Acton on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine, and Curt Louis, 46, who had recently moved his travel trailer onto Halversen's property, on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine. Benje Hansberger, 44, who was visiting Halversen, was arrested on a narcotics warrant.

As investigators were processing the Acton lab, they were called out to another lab discovered in the trunk of a car.

Investigators said they were watching a trailer on Pearblossom Highway south of Avenue T they believed could be housing a methamphetamine lab. When a resident of the trailer drove away, deputies followed him.

Believing the man might be moving some of the merchandise, they attempted to pull him over, but he sped off. Less than two minutes later, the car spun out on 72nd Street East near Pearblossom Highway.

``He tried to either hide or turn onto a dirt road when the vehicle spun out and he ran off through the desert,'' said an undercover narcotics investigator, who asked not to be named.

Investigators searched the car and found lab equipment and chemicals to make methamphetamine in a box in the trunk. Inside the car, detectives found several ounces of methamphetamine.

A police dog and helicopter were called in to search for the man but were unable to locate him in the darkness.

Investigators identified their suspect as Tobin Ray O'Conner, 25, of Palmdale, who was wanted on a warrant for manufacturing a controlled substance after the discovery of a meth lab Sept. 25 in a west Palmdale home he was staying in.

Officials said Southern California Edison workers shut down power to the Acton home after discovering that the residents had spliced into power lines and modified their electric box to steal electricity. Building and safety inspectors also came out and said there were several structural problems and violations with the home.

Halversen was being held at the Lancaster sheriff's station in lieu of $500,000 bail while Louis and Hansberger were being held in lieu of $10,000 bail each.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of O'Conner is asked to call the Palmdale sheriff's station narcotics crew at [phone].

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Photo:

(color) A sheriff's investigator examines possible meth lab evidence found in the trunk of a car.

Paul Weatherman/Special to the Daily News