By George piper/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon ¡X Lebanon Police found an unexpected gift Tuesday stashed among Christmas presents at a South Street home: A working meth lab.
The find has since netted one arrest and two arrest warrants, and LPD is continuing its investigation.
Arrested Wednesday was Bernice Rood, 51, 610 E. South St., which is where police discovered the meth lab. She is in Boone County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Rood faces probation violation charges stemming from Tuesday¡¦s incident. Department of Family and Children officials removed three children - ages 6, 4 and 2 - from the home and placed them with family members, said LPD public information officer Lt. Brent Wheat.
Police believe Rood is not the biological mother of any of the children and may have been babysitting. The 4-year-old child tested positive for meth in his system, but without any apparent affects.
¡§It was present in (the child¡¦s) system, but the child was not under the influence,¡¨ Wheat said. ¡§It¡¦s hard telling at what point the child ingested the meth.¡¨
Officials issued arrest warrants Thursday for two other suspects:
ƒÞƒnJeremiah P. Fearrin, 25, 322 E. Superior St., Lebanon, charged with dealing in methamphetamine, a class B felony, and three counts of neglect of a dependent, a class D felony;
ƒÞƒnHarold B. Harris, 21, 8375 N. Burg Avenue, Kirklin, charged with dealing in methamphetamine, a class B felony, and possession of methamphetamine, a class D felony. Police arrested Harris Tuesday on a warrant not associated with the meth lab bust.
Rood, Fearrin and Harris were all at the home sometime on Tuesday, Wheat said
The initial home visit started with a call to the Indiana Department of Family and Children that the children were around drug activity, Wheat said. Officers saw equipment that is consistent with meth production, he said. They obtained a search warrant to conduct a thorough investigation.
They discovered the meth lab in the basement behind some Christmas presents, said Wheat, adding that the lab was ¡§cooking¡¨ or producing meth when police found it.
Following protocol, officers left the house and called the Indiana State Police Clandestine Laboratory Team, who verified the finding as a meth lab and dismantled it. Responding Tuesday from LPD were Deputy Chief Sam Myers, J.D. Warmoth, Jeff Nelson, Scott Hood and Tony Bayles.
Tuesday¡¦s case is believed to be Lebanon¡¦s first meth lab bust in 2005.
Meth has been a recurring problem in Boone County in recent years. While LPD has no technicians trained to dismantle meth labs, Wheat said officers have a ¡§high level of training¡¨ in dealing with meth problems.
¡§We¡¦ve all had some level of training because it¡¦s such a prevalent problem,¡¨ he said.
