Officials to Test for Toxic Spill at Suspected PCP Lab

Soil and water tests will be conducted today to determine whether a 93-year-old Acton man accused of illegally manufacturing and dumping PCP has contaminated land and water wells near his home, county health officials said Monday.

“An extensive toxic-cleanup job” may be needed on Walter Todd’s 4-acre property in the small, rural Antelope Valley community to remove hazardous chemical residues from a makeshift PCP laboratory, according to Jose Ochoa, a senior industrial hygienist for the Department of Health Services.

“I doubt if nearby wells were affected, but water samples will be taken,” Ochoa said.

Todd was arrested Sunday after an all-night vigil by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s SWAT team, surrendering after his two-bedroom house was tear-gassed. He is being held in the hospital ward of the county jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

County officials said they discovered a five-gallon can of ether and a puddle of undetermined chemicals in Todd’s yard at the time of his arrest. PCP, or phencyclidine, a powerful psychedelic drug, was manufactured in a trailer behind Todd’s 900-square-foot house, they said.

Todd’s neighbors said they had noticed a strong, sour odor coming from his property over the past year.

The elderly man was described by neighbors as cantankerous and “overprotective of his property.” One woman said he fired a shotgun into the air when she came near his land.

“Todd made sure that his closest neighbors didn’t get within 500 feet of his property. He intimidated and threatened folks to the point that they wouldn’t go anywhere near the property line,” another neighbor said.

One man said Todd suffers from hypertension and has swollen feet occasionally, and that at times he acts “old, frail and helpless.” But he also can “curse like a sailor, shoot straight, drive his car and walk for extended periods of time,” the neighbor said.

Todd is scheduled to be arraigned today in Antelope Valley Municipal Court.