Meth Lab Was in Ground at Fontana Home

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department discovered an elaborate underground methamphetamine “super” lab behind a home in Fontana on Wednesday.

The lab was hidden below a false floor constructed in the backyard of the home, and was accessible by a makeshift hydraulic lift elevator that lowered lab operators into a 12-foot-square, tiled room that included an entertainment center, a bathroom and expensive drug manufacturing equipment along with all of the drug’s requisite chemicals: iodine, red phosphorus, lye and methanol, said sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Proctor.

“This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Proctor said.

“It’s very equipped, very organized and very hidden. I’m certain it is part of a bigger operation. This is a very significant bust.”

Proctor declined to identify the man arrested at the home in the 7400 block of Cypress Avenue.

He said the man, who owns a local Mexican restaurant, was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and selling methamphetamine.

The lab was capable of producing more than five pounds of the drug in one “cook,” although Proctor said authorities did not know how much methamphetamine was seized.