By ROD ROSE
LEBANON — Police had a suspected methamphetamine dealer in custody following a drug lab bust last week, but released him before other officers completed tests of materials found at the Lebanon home last week.
Jeremiah Paul Fearrin, 25, address unknown, faces three counts of neglect of a dependent and one felony charge of dealing in meth. Fearrin told police he lived on East Superior Street, but the owners of that home said he has not lived there since they purchased it as an investment.
Charges against Fearrin, and Harold Brandon Harris, 21, Kirklin, who is accused of felony possession of methamphetamine, were filed Thursday.
Police and Department of Family and Children investigators were checking a tip that drug activity at 610 E. South St. was endangering three children, ages 6, 4 and 2, when they found the meth lab Dec. 20.
Police say they found a “blue-tinted pill bottle” in Harris’ pocket. Powder found in a plastic bag in the bottle tested positive for meth, according to a case report written by LPD officer Scott Hood.
Bernice Rood, 51, who lives at the home, was arrested, on probation violation charges, after she arrived while officers were searching the residence.
Fearrin was questioned by Lebanon Police Detective Capt. Maurice Hobson and Boone County Sheriff Detective Albert Hendrix, but was released before Hood finished testing the substance in Harris’ pocket.
Lebanon Police Dept. Lt. Brent Wheat said Tuesday that “by the time they realized what they had on their hands, (Fearrin) had been questioned and released.”
The time it took to get a search warrant for the home, and to begin that search, was also a factor in Fearrin’s release, Wheat said.
It was only after Fearrin, who was found in the home’s basement, had been taken to the Lebanon Police Department for questioning that officers found items that made them suspect they’d also found a meth lab.
“We can’t hold people indefinitely on suspicion,” Wheat said.
“The detectives felt they needed to release him,” Wheat said. “Soon after that they discovered the officers at the scene had found the meth lab.”
A team of Indiana State Police meth lab disposal experts were called because LPD Sgt. Tony Bayles found a functioning meth lab, behind some Christmas presents in the home’s basement.
Preliminary tests on the 4-year-old boy were positive for a meth ingredient, but he may have been taking a legitimate medication containing the substance, Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said Tuesday. That would have resulted in a “false positive” test for meth intoxication, Meyer said.
The adults involved will be “vigorously” prosecuted because they were making meth in the presence of children, Meyer said.
The lab was only the third found in Boone County this year, according to the Indiana State Police. The 4-year-old is believed to be the first child found in a home with an active meth lab here since February 2004.
Meth bust timeline
Then: On Dec. 20, Lebanon Police assist the Boone County Department of Family and Children on a call about drug activity at a house where children reside. While at 610 E. South St., police witness what they believe may be a methamphetamine lab, obtain a search warrant and discover a working meth lab behind Christmas presents in the home’s basement. Warrants are issued for Jeremiah P. Fearrin, 25, of Lebanon and Harold Brandon Harris, 21, of Kirklin.
Now: Fearrin and Harris are still at large. Detectives questioned Fearrin on Dec. 20, but he was released before tests could be completed on a substance — later determine to be meth — found in Harris’ pocket.
