Drug Arrest Made in Wake of Fire
A Placentia man whose apartment was destroyed by fire was arrested afterward on suspicion of making methamphetamine there, police said Wednesday.
Richard James Hagmaier, 31, was arrested at his apartment at 1010 E. Yorba Linda Blvd. on Tuesday night after the fire broke out, said Placentia Police Lt. Chuck Babcock. Hagmaier told police that chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine were in the apartment, police said.
The fire, which erupted at 5:25 p.m. at the Terrace Apartments complex, gutted Hagmaier’s second-story apartment. An apartment below received extensive water damage. Eleven people had to be evacuated from the complex overnight, said a spokesman for the American Red Cross.
A hazardous materials team and narcotics investigators determined that the chemicals were being used to manufacture methamphetamine, Babcock said. Manufacturing methamphetamine is a felony, Babcock said.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
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