Rolling meth lab found in Mt. Olive
Gardendale police officers arrested three people suspected of running a rolling methamphetamine lab on Mt. Olive Road Sunday.
At about 6:30 a.m., a Gardendale police officer was waved down by a passerby, who told the officer about a suspicious white Chevrolet pickup truck, according to Gardendale Police Detective Brian Baker.
The officer found the truck pulling out of the Chevron gas station on Mt. Olive Road, and proceeded to follow it until the driver committed a traffic violation. Baker said when the officer approached the vehicle, he discovered what appeared to be a mobile meth lab.
“It was really shoved in there,” he said. “It wasn’t an extended cab or anything,”
The three occupants of the vehicle were arrested on charges of first degree unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance: Jonathan Davis and Jody Mikel of Trafford and Jonathan Ellis of Warrior. Ellis, the driver, already had a warrant for his arrest.
Baker said the meth lab consisted of a single two-liter soda bottle with ingredients for making the drug contained inside it, as well as other ingredients in their own containers to be mixed later. He said rolling meth labs like this one are particularly volatile.
“There were lithium strips in the bottle, and if they get water or any kind of moisture on them they’ll ignite,” he said.
All three suspects are being held in the Jefferson County Jail on $30,000 bonds each.