Deputy Sniffs Out Palmdale Meth Lab; 2 Arrested

A sheriff’s deputy’s sharp scent led to the discovery Sunday morning of another methamphetamine lab in the Antelope Valley.

While investigating a burglary, Deputy Rick Engels of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Palmdale station detected a strong chemical odor wafting from a mobile home in the 18500 block of 185th Street East in Palmdale.

“It smelled like a methamphetamine lab,” Engels said. “There isn’t anything else that smells like it.”

Manuel Chavez, 34, and his wife, Sandra, 32, were booked on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine. Although no methamphetamine was found, Engels said, paraphernalia for a small lab had been set up and the couple was “in the process” of making the drug. They were in custody Sunday night at the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station, with bail set at $250,000 each.

Engels said he didn’t know if the couple and their alleged lab were connected to the large methamphetamine-producing operation in the Antelope Valley that authorities recently shut down.

Three Antelope Valley residents were arrested Friday after a yearlong investigation called “Operation Paula’s Kitchen,” in which authorities seized drugs and drug-making chemicals with a street value of $30 million. The drug ring allegedly had up to 30 locations in the Antelope Valley and Arleta areas.