Contractor charged with making meth in home under construction

The remnants of a shake and bake meth cooking lab (The lab pictured allegedly started a condo fire in Panama City, Fla.)
The remnants of a shake and bake meth cooking lab (The lab pictured allegedly started a condo fire in Panama City, Fla.)
The remnants of a shake and bake meth cooking lab (The lab pictured allegedly started a condo fire in Panama City, Fla.)

The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Climax, Ga., man on Thursday after deputies found a suspected meth lab inside a home under construction.

Steven Ray Morrison, 46, of 5114 Vada Road, Climax, was arrested Thursday evening and charged with manufacturing meth, according to the Decatur County Jail.

Sheriff’s Investigator Brian Donalson said deputies received information that Morrison, who owns a dry wall company, was possibly involved in meth activity on his job site.

At about 5 p.m. on Thursday, Investigator Donalson and Investigator Adam Mobley went to a home under construction in the area near Hales Landing in southern Decatur County.

The deputies received consent to search the property and found what appeared to be a small, portable meth lab.

“We found what is known as a one-pot clandestine meth lab,” Donalson said. “It’s sometimes called a ‘shake and bake’ lab, because the ingredients for making meth are put into an empty 2-liter bottle and the meth cooks itself over a period of time.”

The investigators took statements from Morrison and other construction workers and then took Morrison into custody. He was still being held at the Decatur County Jail on Friday afternoon.

Donalson, who has been certified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to respond to clandestine meth labs, said the meth lab was still in the initial phases of cooking.

Donalson suited up in protective clothing and a breathing device like firefighters wear in order to take samples from the portable meth lab, which was considered highly toxic because of fumes the cooking process gives off.

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