Jan. 17--Maine law enforcement officers broke up a suspected drug-making lab in the basement of a house at 25 Bigelow Road in Lebanon on Saturday.
Aaron Lowden, 41, a homeless man from the Augusta area, was arrested at the scene on a bail violation and will face drug-making charges once chemists determine what he was making in the basement, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Lowden is being held at the York County Jail in Alfred.
McCausland said the lab was discovered by homeowner Deborah Wilson, who had allowed Lowden to stay in her basement. The lab included a Coleman stove, beakers, glass tubes and other items, he said.
More than 50 drug enforcement officers and emergency workers descended on the house Saturday afternoon, including the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency's Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team equipped with protective suits and respirators.
The MDEA and York County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident.
Lebanon Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole said his department was called to what was described as a hazardous materials incident at 12:50 p.m. Saturday, along with the Lebanon Fire Department, the Department of Environmental Protection and the York County Emergency Management office.
Cole said one man was treated for injuries related to the incident while the owner of the house was treated for an unrelated medical condition.
Emergency workers were on the scene for 13 hours while temperatures plunged into the single digits. Traffic was blocked from the road, causing delays on nearby Route 202.
Sgt. Ron Lund of the York County Sheriff's Office said the incident was not related to a home invasion at 60 Kennebec Drive in Lebanon at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Lund said his department is still looking for a man, wearing a white knit stocking mask, who barged into the home holding a gun and demanded drugs. The homeowner was able to flee while the man was distracted.
The man was described as white, in his 20s, dressed in blue jeans and a jean jacket. Lund asked anyone with information about the man to call his department at 324-1113.
The back-to-back incidents have put Lebanon residents on edge, Cole said. The southern York County town of about 5,000 residents does not have a police department.
"Seeing all the blue lights, it really scared a lot of people," Cole said.
Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:
Copyright 2012 - Portland Press Herald, Maine
