OFFICERS SEIZE METH LAB; BOOBY-TRAPPED SHED FOUND AT NEWBURY PARK HOME.Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer A quiet neighborhood was evacuated and a 45-year-old resident arrested after police found a booby-trapped shed where methamphetamine was being produced, officials said Friday. Brad Raville was arrested late Thursday on suspicion of operating a methamphetamine lab, maintaining an explosive and potentially lethal booby trap booby trap n. a device set up to be triggered to harm or kill anyone entering the trap, such as a shot gun which will go off if a room is entered, or dynamite which will explode if the ignition key on an auto is turned. to protect the makeshift drug lab and attempting to kill a police officer. He was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. ``When (officers) entered, they discovered a booby trap designed to blow the lab up, burn all the evidence and kill anyone there,'' said sheriff's Deputy Ed Tumbleson. Because of the explosives, residents of seven nearby homes on Rudman Drive were evacuated, and officials advised others on the block to leave as well. Deputies said Raville was the same man who had been arrested but not charged in the 1996 shooting death of a Lancaster man in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . The meth meth n. Methamphetamine hydrochloride. lab was found at 11 p.m. Thursday, when sheriff's deputies, narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. detectives and officials from the FBI, the state Department of Justice and the Ventura County Fire Department Not to be confused with Ventura Fire Department. The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, and for six other cities within the county. responded to an anonymous tip. They were given permission to search the property by Raville's father, Clarence. Tumbleson said there was no indication that Raville's parents knew about the suspected drug operation. Officials said that while the lab would yield only a small amount of methamphetamine at a time, the operation was somewhat sophisticated. Cameras were mounted on the roof and under the rain gutters of the house, sending video of any activity in the front yard and side driveway to a television monitor in the shed. In the back yard, a ramshackle A-frame structure made of wood and covered with a blue tarp housed a bathroom-size wooden shed - nearly lost amid the power tools, trash and assorted computer equipment that Brad Raville was said to have been repairing. Inside the shed, officials found 12 gallons of chemicals, including acid and caustic soda caustic soda: see sodium hydroxide. caustic soda Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), an inorganic compound. The alkalies called caustic soda and caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) are very important industrial chemicals, with uses in the manufacture of , as well as a textbook titled ``Chemistry Made Simple.'' Neighbors said they were surprised at the activity on their normally quiet street, near Walnut Elementary School elementary school: see school. . One woman who asked not to be identified said she and her family often suffered from unexplained sore throats, and at times woke up in the middle of the night with a dry cough dry cough n. A cough not accompanied by expectoration; a nonproductive cough. . They also noticed an odd smell in the area Saturday. ``We thought it was a gas leak, and we were going to call the Fire Department,'' she said. ``It smelled like a strong, somewhat gas smell, `chemical-y.' '' Tumbleson said labs like this one are dangerous because the chemicals are often kept in a poorly ventilated ven·ti·late tr.v. ven·ti·lat·ed, ven·ti·lat·ing, ven·ti·lates 1. To admit fresh air into (a mine, for example) to replace stale or noxious air. 2. room to hide the strong smell. Under those conditions, the chemicals mix and can be set off by a spark. Tumbleson said there have been seven meth labs found in Ventura County in the past year. A representative of the Department of Toxic Substances Control with the state Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and said they see between four and five a day throughout the state. ``Very few labs occur in Ventura County, but the few that they do have, with the exception of this one, are big productions,'' said Rick Jones, a senior scientist for the department. Brad Raville has had run-ins with the law before. In 1996, he was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Lancaster man outside the tow-truck company Raville had sold two weeks before. Raville was not charged in that incident because officials could not find evidence to dispute his claim that he shot Juan Elijio Carranza, 35, in self-defense. A few weeks later, a fire severely damaged the Thousand Oaks home he was renting at the time. At the time, Fire Department officials said the blaze started in a trash can in the kitchen and was thought to be accidental. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color in Conejo and Simi Editions) A toxic cleanup team member pours toluene toluene (tōl`y  ēn') or methylbenzene (mĕth'əlbĕn`zēn), C7H8 into a container at the Newbury Park home where a booby-trapped drug lab was found. (2--Ran in Conejo and Simi Editions only) Flammable liquids and a chemistry textbook were among the items found at the house. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion