Possible meth lab under investigation | News

SURF TOWN | The arrest of a fugitive Tuesday morning at a Surf City apartment complex led to an ongoing methamphetamine lab situation at Gateway Plaza.

After U.S. Marshals arrested fugitive James William Roberts at the Gateway Apartments around 9:30 a.m., the fugitive told marshals that he was running a rolling meth lab out of his car parked outside the mall.

Roberts, 28, of Fauquier County, Virginia, was wanted for manufacturing methamphetamine, said Russ Fields of the U.S. Marshals Eastern North Carolina Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Marshals in Virginia received information that Roberts was heading to the Gateway Apartments, Fields said.

“We monitored this address until 9:30 a.m.,” Fields said. “We arrested him in front of the apartments there.”

When the marshal searched Roberts, they found a substance he identified as meth, along with other paraphernalia, Fields said.

“We asked him if there was anything dangerous in his car,” Fields said. “He said ‘yes’ but wouldn’t say what. That’s why we could smell toxic fumes and meth additives in the car.”

The marshals accused Roberts of being a fugitive from justice. Fields said he faces charges of manufacturing methamphetamine in Virginia.

As of 1:25 p.m., no offices at the mall had been evacuated until the NC State Bureau of Investigation arrived, officials said.

Surf City police and firefighters set up a cordon around the green four-door Hyundai sedan with caution tape. Officers and firefighters in protective gear began cleaning the car shortly before 2 p.m. The work in the car was completed and the barrier tape came off around 2:15 p.m

Russ Cheatham, who holds signs outside the plaza, said officers came to the plaza around noon and asked people to move their cars from the area.

Cheatham said he then saw officers take a pair of pliers and pour “a strange foamy substance” around the car.

Officials said the fugitive was taken to Burgaw.

SURF TOWN | The arrest of a fugitive Tuesday morning at a Surf City apartment complex led to an ongoing methamphetamine lab situation at Gateway Plaza.

After U.S. marshals arrested the fugitive, whose name was not immediately available, at the Gateway Apartments around 9:30 a.m., the fugitive told marshals he saw a roll of meth from his car parked outside the mall -run a laboratory.

As of 1:25 p.m., no offices at the mall had been evacuated until the NC State Bureau of Investigation arrived, officials said.

Surf City police and firefighters set up a cordon around the green four-door sedan with caution tape.

Russ Cheatham, who holds signs outside the plaza, said officers came to the plaza around noon and asked people to move their cars from the area.

Cheatham said he then saw officers take a pair of pliers and pour “a strange foamy substance” around the car.

Officials said the fugitive was taken to Burgaw.

Surf City police officers and several other law enforcement agencies are investigating a possible meth lab at an apartment complex in the city.

According to Surf City Police Chief Michael Halstead, police officers cordoned off an area inside the Gateway Apartments at the corner of NC 210 and NC 50.

“Currently, Surf City officers are on scene, have secured the area and vehicle, and are awaiting SBI,” Halstead said. “We don’t do anything with it, we just stand by.”

Halstead said residents in the immediate area may be evacuated due to the potential dangers posed by meth labs.

Halstead said U.S. Marshals arrested a person who had escaped from the apartment complex around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Halstead said the person arrested admitted to driving a vehicle that was in the past or currently being used as a mobile meth lab.

“We don’t know for sure,” he said.