Tulsa Police and DEA Close Down Large Neighborhood Meth Lab

The News on Six broke another exclusive story Wednesday night: the bust of a huge neighborhood meth lab. Thursday, neighbors were still worried about the mess left behind.<br>The bust went down on First

Thursday, December 2nd 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The News on Six broke another exclusive story Wednesday night: the bust of a huge neighborhood meth lab. Thursday, neighbors were still worried about the mess left behind.
The bust went down on First Street near Admiral and Memorial Drive.

The Tulsa Fire Departmentâ€™s Hazardous Materials Rescue Unitâ€™s workers found drug paraphernalia, strong acid and protective gloves still littering the lawn of the suspectâ€™s house Thursday morning. "I've got a four-year-old. He doesn't know what this stuff is,â€ said neighbor Diana Spencer. â€œIf that stuff is on one of the gloves and it blows down to my driveway, he'll pick it up and blow it up like a balloon. Who knows what will happen to him?," she said.

Firefighters took on the job of the final cleanup, but a private company was originally hired by the Drug Enforcement Agency to clean up around the house. "Some of the fluids ran out of the garage and onto the driveway," reported H-M-Râ€™s chief Skip Mason. The homeowner still has to clean up the mess inside.

38-year-old David W Taylor was renting the house. Police arrested him for making on drug charges, and they say the whole house was one big lab. "Investigators say it's obvious a lot of meth was cooked in this house." They say the metal fixtures are corroded all the way through because of all the toxic liquids used to make the drug. Police are now trying to assure neighbors they can breathe easy, that it is indeed safe.

Crews removed about 30 gallons of toxic liquids supposedly used to make meth. It's going to cost $6,000 in Federal funds to dispose of it all. Neighbors called the police on Taylor, but not because of the drugs. "You can drive down the street and he'd be at the front door, standing there nude," said Spencer.

Police confirm Taylor has past arrests and a conviction for exposing himself in public. This is his first drug arrest. Police say they found less than an ounce of meth in the house, although they also found evidence a lot of the drug was cooked inside the house over a period of at least several months.