Drug team busts meth lab

WASILLA — Four Wasilla residents were arrested Thursday for operating a methamphetamine lab in a residence off Knik-Goose Bay Road.

Acting on a citizen tip, members of the Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement’s Mat-Su office executed a search warrant at 6:25 a.m. They arrested Thomas N. Phillips, 37, and his wife, Phyllis L. Phillips, 31, who own the Red Birch Drive house. John R. Harris Jr., 33, and David T. Nelson, 36, also were arrested.

Each is charged with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. Under Alaska law, that’s a class A felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

In addition, each faces five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Phillipses also were charged with fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.

Officers said they found an active meth lab in a downstairs bedroom. The lab was equipped with three microwave ovens, a gas generator mounted over two of the ovens, numerous glass containers, a tray with more than 100 striker plates cut from match books, pseudo-ephedrine tablets, several bottles of Heet, several jars containing two-stage liquids, a glass lab-type flask sitting on a hot plate, and methamphetamine.

The Phillipses’ children — ages 8, 7, 4, 2 and 1 — were immediately taken to a hospital to be tested for contaminants and scrubbed. Their bedrooms are upstairs in the home, and it was determined that none of the kids was contaminated.

By Friday, they were placed in foster homes through the Office of Children’s Services, said investigator Angela Long, a Wasilla Police Department representative on the drug team.

Long said a clerk at the Tesoro station at Mile 4 Knik-Goose Bay Road called the Alaska State Troopers’ office in Palmer with a tip at 2:45 a.m. Thursday, initiating a swift series of events leading to the arrests just hours later.

“We dove right at it,” Long said.

The clerk told troopers about an odd assortment of substances in the suspects’ possession. For example, Long said it’s unusual for someone to need 10 bottles of the gasoline additive Heet this time of year. That, along with large quantities of Sudafed, are enough to trigger suspicion, she said.

“We’ve tried to educate a lot of store clerks around the Valley about the ingredients used to make methamphetamine,” Long said. “Generally, people don’t buy things in that kind of grouping. Clerks around the Valley are really on the ball. This one noticed something and called the police.”

After the troopers’ preliminary work, the District Attorney’s office was notified, Long said. A search warrant was obtained from a Palmer judge.

“I drug him out of bed at 5:30 a.m.,” Long said.

She credited Palmer troopers with doing “a great job of jumping on it” once they got the tip.

“It was a combination of an attentive clerk, an on-the-ball dispatcher, and troopers who followed up on it,” Long said.

A trooper press release said the drug team got help from Wasilla and Palmer Police Departments, and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

The four were lodged at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. The bail for Nelson and Thomas Phillips is $30,000 cash and a court-approved third party custodian, while Phyllis Phillips’ bail is $30,000 cash or corporate along with an approved third party. Harris’ bail is $50,000 cash and a third party custodian because he was on probation for a previous felony, Long said.

It was the second meth lab bust in two days for the Wasilla investigator. On Wednesday, Long got a tip on a lab in Big Lake after a shed burned to the ground. An arrest is expected soon in that case, she said.