Man Arrested on Drug-Making Charges

A man described by authorities as a methamphetamine “cook” was being held in lieu of $1-million bail Friday after a team of narcotics investigators arrested him at a clandestine drug laboratory on an abandoned chicken ranch in the Antelope Valley desert.

James Burrow, 31, of Fontana was arrested Thursday in a raid at 40000 135th St. E. in Palmdale by heavily armed members of the Inland Empire Clandestine Laboratory Task Force, which is made up of detectives from various San Bernardino County police agencies and supervised by agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

Also arrested were Glen Moffit, 43, and Cynthia Ruthford, 27, both of Palmdale.

Officers found 16 gallons of methamphetamine oil with a potential street value of $320,000 and two pounds of finished methamphetamine product worth about $20,000, said Detective Steve Kleetenberg of the San Bernardino Police Department.

Methamphetamine, also known as speed or crank, is popular in the Antelope Valley and Inland Empire areas.

It is often produced in makeshift laboratories in remote desert or mountain areas.

The drug produces a feeling of heightened energy, similar to the effect of cocaine.

The team also dismantled a fully equipped lab used for methamphetamine production, which was found in a building that once housed an incubator for the chicken ranch, Kleetenberg said.

Charges of manufacturing and possession of methamphetamine are expected to be filed Monday against Burrow, who authorities said is awaiting trail on charges stemming from two previous raids on labs where he was allegedly manufacturing or “cooking” methamphetamine in the Fontana area.

The other suspects were being held in lieu of $15,000 bail each.