Meth lab found in village of Bloomfield

Frank Schultz | November 27, 2015

BLOOMFIELD—The Walworth County Drug Enforcement Unit and village of Bloomfield police discovered a small methamphetamine lab Monday.

They had gone to the residence of Nathaniel L. Bailey, 31, of W850 Myrtle Road in the village of Bloomfield, because he was wanted on a felony apprehension request through the Wisconsin Division of Community Corrections, according to a news release issued Wednesday.

Bailey was not home when officers arrived at 5 p.m., but deputies searched the house and found evidence that someone had been cooking methamphetamine, the news release states.

It was a "typical one-pot" meth lab, said Sgt. Jeff Patek of the sheriff's office.

The process of “cooking” methamphetamine involves combining chemicals that are poisonous, flammable and explosive. The one-pot, or shake-and-bake, method is said to be especially dangerous.

Patek said investigators could not determine how long the meth-making had gone on.

Deputies got a search warrant and requested help with clean-up from the Drug Enforcement Administration Clandestine Lab Team, the news release states.

Around the same time, deputies learned Bailey was at the Wal-Mart in Lake Geneva and arrested him there, where he was sitting in his car in the parking lot, Patek said.

The DEA team recovered about a half-pound of methamphetamine and paraphernalia used to make it, according to the release.

Bailey was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine, methamphetamine waste, methamphetamine paraphernalia, manufacturing methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house, as well as on the state apprehension request.