Police Discover Possible Meth Lab in Retirement Community
June 16, 2014, 10:29 PM UTC / Updated June 16, 2014, 11:53 PM UTC
He was pulled over for a traffic violation on Saturday night, but when police in Fresno, Calif., searched the vehicle of Robert Short, 64, they discovered a variety of drug-related items. And when they searched his apartment at a retirement community, they found even more.
Police looked through Short's car, Sgt. Jaime Rios said, and found scales, packaging materials and plastic bags filled with "a large amount" of methamphetamine.
When investigators searched Short's apartment at the California League-Fresno Village retirement community — a large apartment complex for low-income seniors — they found what they suspected was heroin and paperwork related to drug sales. They also found a jar that contained 8.6 ounces of what Rios described as meth that appeared to be "in the earlier stages" of production.
Specialized task force members were called to the apartment, Rios said, and "based on what they saw, they believed the suspect was possibly manufacturing meth."
Short, who was on probation, was charged with possession of a controlled substance for sale. Rios said that investigators were still determining if he was manufacturing the drug.
There are over 1,000 residents at the retirement community, and officials there said Short had lived only there briefly.
"This is the first time and hopefully only time that this will happen," said Guillermo Moreno, an assistant to the administrator, Barbara Eubanks.
"We are shocked," Eubanks added. "Everyone in this village is shocked."
—Tim Stelloh