ROCKINGHAM — A mother’s errand resulted in Richmond County’s first meth lab bust of 2016.
Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office say 36-year-old Alex Brian Eaves went to FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital late on Feb. 4 to receive treatment for burns he said were from trying to light trash in a burn pile.
When his mother went to his home at 1735 U.S. 1 North outside Rockingham to get clothes for his children, investigators say she noticed something suspicious and called deputies.
When they looked at photos she had taken with her cellphone, deputies recognized the elements of a meth lab.
During a search of the home, investigators say they found an active one-pot cook and evidence of three inactive “shake-and-bake” cooks. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation assisted in the cleanup of the lab.
According to warrants, investigators found several key ingredients for making meth: sodium hydroxide, which is commonly known as lye; lighter fluid and Coleman fuel; ammonium nitrate; and pseudoephedrine.
They also found a glass smoking pipe and a spoon, warrants show.
Eaves was arrested the following night and charged with four counts of possession or distribution of a meth precursor and one count each of manufacturing methamphetamine and maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance.
He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Eaves was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $200,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 25.
Chief Deputy Mark Gulledge said the case is still under investigation and additional charges are possible.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show Eaves was about a month away from completing probation after receiving a 12-month suspended sentence last March when he was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of communicating threats.
Eaves was also has a previous conviction in 2009 for driving while impaired and in 1996 for causing wanton injury to personal property.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
With 27 meth labs discovered, Richmond County had the third-highest number of meth busts among North Carolina’s 100 counties in 2015, according to State Bureau of Investigation figures.
Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Kelly Page of the SBI told the Daily Journal last year that the scaled-down one-pot, or “shake-and-bake,” method is easily hidden and portable.
“(It’s) every bit as dangerous as the way they used to cook meth, if not more dangerous,” she said. “Because it’s smaller, (they) can make meth anywhere.”
A man and woman were charged with manufacturing in December following a mobile home fire near Ellerbe.
Investigators believed the pair was in the process of making a batch of meth when some kind of chemical reaction caused a flash fire, which subsequently caught the trailer on fire.
According to a fact sheet from the Occupational & Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health, cooking meth creates a variety of hazards including toxic vapors and spills, fires and explosions. The drug also poses an environmental hazard, as up to 5 pounds of toxic waste is created when meth is made in a lab, which pollutes the surrounding land and water when dumped.
Although the SBI collects most of the ingredients, supplies and product as evidence, smaller amounts of the drug and hazardous chemical residues may remain and may have contaminated surfaces, drains, sinks, ventilation systems and absorbent materials such as couches, carpets, curtains and beds.
At least 20 people were sentenced to federal prison in 2015 on meth-related charges stemming from Richmond County arrests.
Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.