Police raided a secret methamphetamine laboratory in Albert Lea on Wednesday and arrested two brothers for manufacturing the drug.

Friday, November 09, 2001

Police raided a secret methamphetamine laboratory in Albert Lea on Wednesday and arrested two brothers for manufacturing the drug.

The Albert Lea Police Department, Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office and South Central Drug Investigation Unit arrested Jason Patrick Tope, 25, and Shawn Casey Tope, 21, for manufacturing methampehtamine at their home garage at 205 Giles Place. The two were charged in district court today.

According to the criminal complaint, the Tope brothers used a loft space in the garage as the laboratory.

When the police officers raided the lab, they found a makeshift heating plate that was distilling precursors of methamphetamine. The investigators also found coffee filters with a caked powder substance, plastic bottles, cans of solvent, antifreeze and acids, all of which are used for processing the drug. A &uot;recipe&uot; explaining the production method was also discovered.

The police took six liquid samples to analyze. A Drug Enforcement Agency hazardous waste collection team collected harmful waste from the site.

Prior to the raid, Shawn Tope was arrested for possessing three grams of methamphetamine on Oct. 10 while he was leaving a trailer in Twin Lakes. The police conducted a search of the trailer Wednesday and found some of the manufacturing equipment in a box.

The Tope brothers moved the lab from Twin Lakes to Albert Lea after Shawn Tope’s arrest, according to the investigation.

Methamphetamine can be made from common cold pills by processing it with acids and other solvents. The police confirmed that the Tope brothers used anhydrous ammonia stolen last month from the Alden Co-op Elevator in Emmons to manufacture the drug.