Acton Man, 93, Won’t Face PCP Charges

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will not file charges against a 93-year-old Acton man who was arrested on suspicion of illegally manufacturing PCP, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Prosecutors decided that there was insufficient evidence linking the man, Walter Todd, to a makeshift PCP laboratory discovered in a trailer behind his house, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen L. Cooley said.

Todd was arrested Sunday after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to residents’ complaints of a strong, pungent odor and found traces of ether and chemicals used to manufacture PCP in the trailer.

But sheriff’s detectives could find no evidence that the elderly man, described by neighbors as “frail” and “cantankerous,” was aware of what was happening in his trailer, Cooley said.

“During a search of his actual residence we found nothing . . . to indicate he had any knowledge of the illegal manufacturing,” the prosecutor said.

“He just didn’t strike the investigator as being involved or having knowledge of this activity. He may have known there was somebody using the trailer but may not have known what for,” Cooley said.

Sheriff’s investigators are trying to find out who ran the lab, Cooley said. He would not say if there are any suspects.

Todd, who had been held on $75,000 bail, was released from custody Monday night, he said.

Cooley said the district attorney’s office analyzed the case more quickly than usual because of Todd’s age and out of concern for his health.