Raids yield lab, meth

SAGLE — Four people were arrested during three simultaneous drug raids on Thursday morning. A fifth suspect remains at large.

Drug agents from three counties took part in the execution of the arrest and search warrants, said Bonner County Sheriff’s Sgt. Marty Ryan.

The searches yielded a methamphetamine lab, a small amount of finished product and firearms, Ryan said.

The meth lab was discovered in a triplex at the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 95 and Westmond Road. The second raid occurred at a single-wide trailer at 463759 U.S. 95, which neighbors the Westmond Store. The third search went down north of Round Lake State Park, at 1105 Blue Sky Road.

Jolene E. Laurie, a 34-year-old who was renting a unit in the triplex where the lab was found, was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing meth. Her husband, Richard, will be likewise charged, but is being sought for arrest, Ryan said.

A couple renting the single-wide south of the triplex, Lynda LouAnn Bales and Billy Ray Bales, both 43, were arrested for possession of meth. A tenant in the Blue Sky Road home, Spencer Andrew Zech, was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Ryan said additional charges against the Bales and Zech are being considered.

The sheriff’s Criminal Interdiction Team conducted the searches with assistance from the Boundary County Drug Task Force and the North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force from Kootenai County. The state’s Panhandle region hazardous materials response team was also on hand to help with dismantling the lab, which authorities described as a “Red P” setup.

Red phosphorus meth labs extract ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from common cold medications to create the illegal stimulant.

Two agents clad in Tyvek suits and respirator masks methodically brought the various components of the lab out of the apartment, where colleagues cataloged and photographed the evidence.

Ryan said the coordinated searches were the product of a five-month investigation involving the aggressive procurement of the chemical precursors of meth from area pharmacies, which are federally required to keep track of customers’ cold medication purchases.

“Their actions were very overt,” Ryan said of the cold medicine purchases.