5 Arrested After Meth Lab Found

Tipped off by neighbors who smelled a chemical odor, narcotics detectives Thursday uncovered a methamphetamine lab and more than $40,000 worth of the drug, police said.

Five men were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine and were being held Thursday night on $500,000 bail each. If convicted, they may face added jail time because the lab was across the street from Haddon Avenue elementary school, said Det. Jeff Esparza, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Clandestine Lab Squad.

“The stuff they have is not good,” Esparza said. “With the right combination you can get an explosion that can take out half the block.”

Inside a converted garage behind a house in the 13300 block of Garber Street, police said they found about a dozen containers of liquid chemicals, including red phosphorus, which is often used to make methamphetamine.

Also found were numerous tins of an alcohol solvent, used to break down the coating on pills that contain methamphetamine, and a plastic tank used to separate the drug from unwanted chemicals, police said.

Detectives found 1.8 pounds of methamphetamine, Det. Warren Sult said. Because a gram of methamphetamine sold on the street can bring in $50, Thursday’s seizure could be worth nearly $41,000, police said.

“This won’t be the biggest seizure in California, but this is definitely a decent-sized lab,” Esparza said, adding that meth lab discoveries usually uncover several grams or ounces of the drug, not pounds of it.

Esparza said the men had enough chemicals to make about 10 pounds of the drug in each batch, which takes from eight to 24 hours to process.

Behind the lab, detectives also found numerous cages full of roosters, many of which had their red combs cut off, as is done to fighting birds. Police removed about 20 handmade razor-sharp spurs believed to have been used in cockfighting, Esparza said.

Animal control officer Doreen Vail removed one of the older cocks, saying it had a festering puncture wound under one wing.

Vail pointed to items she said indicated the birds were used in cockfights--a carrying cage and first-aid equipment such as tiny syringes and penicillin to treat injuries. Although cockfighting is illegal, there is little that can be done to enforce the law unless the birds are actually seen fighting, she said.

“It’s sad,” she said.

Vail gave the owner of the house a citation for housing the roosters closer to neighbors than the 100-foot separation the law requires.

Arrested were Jose Jesus Lopez Sr., 36, the owner of the house; his son, Jose Jesus Lopez Jr., 19; Jose Lopez-Diego, 29; Fernando Leal, 26, and Leonardo Ortega, 25. Police said it was not clear where the three others live, and that one of them may reside in the converted garage.