MAPLETON, N.D. - Authorities seized the remnants of a methamphetamine lab and arrested five people at a Cass County farmstead Thursday, marking the county's first meth lab bust this year.
The Cass County Sheriff's Office, assisted by several other agencies, served a search warrant about 8 a.m. at the farmstead at 15666 42nd St. S.E., Mapleton, Sheriff Paul Laney said in a news release.
Wearing hazardous materials suits, authorities searched two outbuildings and two of the three houses on the large farmstead, which is about five miles south and 1¾ miles east of Casselton, said sheriff's Detective Jesse Jahner.
They recovered meth manufacturing equipment and a small amount of the drug from the outbuildings and the trunk of a car, Jahner said.
"Basically, what it was was the remnants of a lab," he said. "It wasn't an active lab when we got there."
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Five people were arrested at the farmstead on suspicion of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.
Four of them listed the farmstead as their address: Jan David Hornor, 47, Jeffrey Alan Boese, 48, Pixie Lee Daugherty, 35, and Larry Lee Zielske, 44. Also arrested was John Edward Perkins, 42, 1022 16th St. N., Fargo.
All five were being held in the Cass County Jail.
The arrests also cleared up five outstanding warrants, Laney said.
Thursday's bust was the 16th meth lab seizure in North Dakota this year, according to the attorney general's office.
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Authorities have busted four labs in Burleigh County, three in Ward County, two each in Barnes and Stutsman counties and one each in Eddy, Morton, Sheridan and Traill counties.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said meth lab busts steadily declined after the 2003 Legislature tightened restrictions on the sale of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in meth.
"It's relatively rare to see a meth lab anymore, where compared to 2002, 2003 and 2004, we were seeing just about one every day," he said.
The state recorded 297 meth lab busts in 2003, 260 in 2004, 190 in 2005, 45 in 2006 and 25 last year. Authorities keep track of where meth makers are getting their pseudoephedrine, including checking log books that buyers are required to sign, Stenehjem said.
Because the law restricts the amount of the drug they can buy at one time, meth makers have been known to team up and buy pseudoephedrine at several different stores and then pool their resources, he said.
"That's very labor intensive to do, but it does happen," he said.
"I think it's going to get even harder, because there are a lot of places that just aren't carrying pseudoephedrine anymore," he added.
