Sheriff, tribal marshal overcome by fumes

Sheriff Lenden Woodruff and Cherokee Nation Marshal Murray Goss were treated on Tuesday for phospine gas exposure and released after several hours. Fumes also overcame James Gerold Schaefer and his wife, Deanna, whom authorities allege were cooking meth when law officers raided a residence near Kansas, Okla.

Both were treated and released within four hours of their arrests and were taken to the Delaware County Jail.

Prosecutors charged the couple with manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Drug enforcement officers found two pipe bombs and firearms inside the mobile home around 4 p.m., hours after the meth lab cleanup began, officials said. Officers with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Disposal Unit were called in to dismantle the bombs, the sheriff said.

Authorities also seized a large quantity of finished meth and several containers of chemicals.

Woodruff said officers were using a crowbar to pry open the front door when Schaefer is believed to have dumped a container of phosphine gas, which made the air, already contaminated by chemicals, toxic.

At that point, the sheriff said he and Goss had to rescue the pair, who were overcome and disoriented by the fumes in less than a minute. Woodruff sent the other marshals outside to prevent them from being exposed to the vapors, he said.

Goss and Woodruff went by patrol car to the hospital and had to go through detoxification before they could enter the facility because of possible contamination.

"I was nauseated, couldn't breath and my lungs were burning,"

Woodruff said.

Schaefer was charged in October with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, methamphetamine, and transporting a loaded firearm, according to records.