Domestic Dispute Call Turns Into Meth Lab Bust

Saturday, April 14th 2007, 4:47 pm

By: News On 6

Drugs, guns and bomb parts are discovered in a north Tulsa business Saturday. Deputies were originally called out to break up a domestic dispute, but the News on 6â€™s Joshua Brakhage reports before it was over, they had called in drug dogs, the ATF and the bomb squad.

Deputies never expected to be detonating a potentially explosive device when they arrived on scene. They cleared out four adults and a child from the building before they stumbled across one surprise after another.

"While searching for additional people inside the building, my deputies found the makings of a meth lab," said Tulsa Sheriffâ€™s Captain Michelle Robinette.

While the meth lab clean-up crew cleared paraphernalia out of a hiding place, they found what looked like a homemade pipe bomb. Investigators also found bomb-making parts like tubing and wire. Deputies found three suspicious devices inside. None of them turned out to be explosive.

It took hours for deputies to determine that what they found wasn't a danger to the neighborhood. The bomb dog found several guns, and a drug dog found narcotics such as crack cocaine and crystal meth.

Kristine Rodgers and Justin Harkey were arrested for drugs, and Eric Phillips was arrested on the original complaint of domestic abuse.

To make matters worse, just before 6 a.m., two deputies protecting the perimeter of the scene were taken to the hospital when a 17-year-old drunk driver T-boned their car. One was treated for a shoulder injury, the other for scrapes and bruises, but both should be fine. The teenage drunk driver made bond and is out of jail Saturday evening.Seventeen-year-old Felipe Mares was booked for DUI. It's his first offense.