Police Raid Drug Lab in Garage of ‘Aspiring Chemist’

A Cypress man has been arrested after police raided his garage and found an elaborate laboratory that they said resembled “something out of Frankenstein,” in which he is suspected of manufacturing methamphetamine, also known as “speed.”

Kenneth Lael Jordan, 33, was arrested at his rented home in the 9300 block of Cambridge Street about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday after narcotics officers received a tip, Lt. Bob Bandurraga said.

Someone in his family, suspecting that Jordan was manufacturing illegal drugs, called police when his behavior became “erratic and aggressive,” Bandurraga said.

Guns, Cash Seized

“The crime lab people all agreed it was the most sophisticated lab they had ever seen,” he said. “It was like something right out of Frankenstein, I tell you.”

The garage was a mass of beakers, tubes and hoses, Bandurraga said. As officials dismantled the laboratory Wednesday, a delivery man arrived with another box of beakers.

Police did not find any methamphetamine, Bandurraga said, but police seized $27,000 in cash, a recently purchased Nissan pickup truck with an estimated value of about $14,000, two loaded semiautomatic assault rifles--an Uzi and a Soviet AK47--and two handguns.

They also found 5 1/2 pounds of ephedrine, one of the main ingredients of methamphetamine, as well as other volatile chemicals and equipment that can be used to make methamphetamine, Bandurraga said.

The Orange County Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was summoned to identify and stabilize the chemicals before they were removed by a private firm, he said.

Neighbors Noticed Smells

Jordan is a former pre-medical student and “an aspiring chemist” who rented the house four months ago, Bandurraga said. His estranged wife had become suspicious when Jordan would not allow her to enter the garage.

“She knew something was going on, but she didn’t know to what extent,” he said.

In addition, neighbors had tried to notify the house’s owner of the strange smells, Bandurraga said, adding that Jordan had carefully disguised the outside vents of his homemade laboratory.

“You could hardly tell it was there, from the street,” he said.

Officers found the “large-scale chemical lab” and called other authorities, Bandurraga said. In addition to the fire department’s hazardous-materials team, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department provided chemists and experts on illicit laboratories, he said.

Jordan was booked at the Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail, Bandurraga said.