Sand Springs Police Bust Third Meth Lab Since Sunday

Lori Fullbright and Russell Hulstine, NewsOn6.com

SAND SPRING, Oklahoma -- A Sand Springs police officer's nose helped lead him to a working meth lab early Wednesday morning.

The officer was on patrol in the 1200 block of North Main when he smelled a meth lab and says he located it inside a home.

When officers knocked on the door, the suspect, 29-year-old Clifford Allen, opened the door.

Sand Springs Police say when officers inquired about the smell of a meth lab from inside the home, Allen got upset and starting yelling "This is illegal."

They say Allen fought the officer, even got the officer's holster unsnapped - trying to get his gun - so they tazed him and took him to jail. He was booked on complaints of manufacture of a controlled and dangerous substance and resisting arrest.

It's the third meth lab Sand Springs Police have busted in the past four days. Thanks to a new city ordinance, taxpayers are no longer footing the bill to clean up these houses and apartments.

Police slap a notice on the door of a meth lab, which says no one can live on the property until the owner pays to clean it up and it tests safe.

Allen's neighbors weren't surprised by the arrest. 

"I knew something was up, you could tell - all the traffic, all hours of the night, early morning," said neighbor Sabrina Lane. "Shady looking people too." 

"It's just a shame," said neighbor Tiffany Parrish. "There's a school a block over, and there are kids walking up the street all the time."

Chad Parrish has lived here for 15 years and never seen anything like this. He and his wife are expecting a baby in March.

None of these neighbors wants a meth lab across the street.

"It is a good neighborhood with good people who live here, and we don't want that kind of trash in our neighborhood - don't want it," Lane said. 

They were glad to see the bright orange sticker, which means nobody can live here until it's been proven clean. 

"He can go into the house, but he can't live there," said Assistant Sand Springs Police Chief Mike Carter. "He's more than welcome to go in and start cleaning it up and call a testing company to test, but they can't reside there." 

A few days earlier, officers found a meth lab in a house on North Franklin. Those suspects got away, but the same orange sticker is now on their front door. 

"If you look at the number of these, you can't let these things to continue to develop into a toxic site," Carter said.

On Sunday, police say they found a meth lab in the basement of a house on North Grant. Officers say the cook was smoking while mixing the volatile chemicals.

They arrested Joseph and Sue Jeffries. Their house also got the warning sticker.

Police say the ordinance is to keep an unsuspecting person from moving into a meth house or apartment and unknowingly being exposed to dangerous chemicals.

They say the man arrested Sunday had 11 handwritten recipes for meth with notes on how long each batch took, how much it made and a rating system for how good it was.

They say he'd written "five-star dope" on one of them.

He told police he doesn't sell his meth, but does use it every single day.