A Bent County man — released from a treatment center just 10 days earlier — was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of operating a meth lab.
Bradley Davidson, 38, Bent County is now residing at the Bent County Jail instead of his rural home near 6005 County Road 7.
Davidson is being held on suspicion of “distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, sale or possession, keeping property for unlawful manufacturing of controlled substance, unlawful possession of materials to make methamphetamines,” according to Sheriff’s Lt. Devonn Rider.
Bent County Sheriff Gerry Oyen said Davidson was released from a treatment center in Colorado Springs about 10 days before his latest arrest.
“Meth has been way down. We are concerned. We hope this does not keep up. Meth labs are dangerous,” Oyen commented in regards to the arrest of Davidson.
“We have information that people are going back to the home-made stuff because they like it better than what is imported,” Oyen said.
Rider said a suspected meth lab was discovered Monday evening when Dep. James Barr and Parole Officer Jon Van Zant made a home visit to Davidson. The home was in a remote area in southwestern Bent County.
Sheriff Oyen said the visit was prompted by a tip from Lamar lawmen, who cited the alleged purchases of Sudafed by a man believed to be from Bent County.
The sheriff said the investigation was conducted late at night, with the two officers traveling to the home around 9 or 10 p.m. After their initial observations at the scene they successfully obtained a search warrant after midnight to further investigate the home.
Oyen said there might be 15 or 20 items from which samples were taken by the 16th Judicial District Drug Task Force Response Team that was summoned to the site. Participating in the evidence collection were investigators from La Junta Police Department, Otero County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Corrections.
A drug recovery unit from a metropolitan police force then arrived to gather up materials for subsequent disposal, according to Rider and Oyen.
Task Force investigator Gary Armitage stated this was the first meth lab found in Bent County in three years.
“Based on confidential informants, more busts are expected,” according to a formal release issued by Rider.
In the previous decade the Judicial Drug Task Force successfully closed down about a hundred meth labs in the Lower Arkansas Valley.
However, in a Las Animas meeting with area lawmen and then U. S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D – Colo., Armitage had commented that despite the meth lab closures methamphetamine was still widely available.
When the local meth labs were shut down, foreign manufactured meth supplies filled the product vacuum.
Oyen is concerned this week that local meth labs may spring up again.
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A Bent County man — released from a treatment center just 10 days earlier — was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of operating a meth lab.
Bradley Davidson, 38, Bent County is now residing at the Bent County Jail instead of his rural home near 6005 County Road 7.
Davidson is being held on suspicion of “distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, sale or possession, keeping property for unlawful manufacturing of controlled substance, unlawful possession of materials to make methamphetamines,” according to Sheriff’s Lt. Devonn Rider.
Bent County Sheriff Gerry Oyen said Davidson was released from a treatment center in Colorado Springs about 10 days before his latest arrest.
“Meth has been way down. We are concerned. We hope this does not keep up. Meth labs are dangerous,” Oyen commented in regards to the arrest of Davidson.
“We have information that people are going back to the home-made stuff because they like it better than what is imported,” Oyen said.
Rider said a suspected meth lab was discovered Monday evening when Dep. James Barr and Parole Officer Jon Van Zant made a home visit to Davidson. The home was in a remote area in southwestern Bent County.
Sheriff Oyen said the visit was prompted by a tip from Lamar lawmen, who cited the alleged purchases of Sudafed by a man believed to be from Bent County.
The sheriff said the investigation was conducted late at night, with the two officers traveling to the home around 9 or 10 p.m. After their initial observations at the scene they successfully obtained a search warrant after midnight to further investigate the home.
Oyen said there might be 15 or 20 items from which samples were taken by the 16th Judicial District Drug Task Force Response Team that was summoned to the site. Participating in the evidence collection were investigators from La Junta Police Department, Otero County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Corrections.
A drug recovery unit from a metropolitan police force then arrived to gather up materials for subsequent disposal, according to Rider and Oyen.
Task Force investigator Gary Armitage stated this was the first meth lab found in Bent County in three years.
“Based on confidential informants, more busts are expected,” according to a formal release issued by Rider.
In the previous decade the Judicial Drug Task Force successfully closed down about a hundred meth labs in the Lower Arkansas Valley.
However, in a Las Animas meeting with area lawmen and then U. S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D – Colo., Armitage had commented that despite the meth lab closures methamphetamine was still widely available.
When the local meth labs were shut down, foreign manufactured meth supplies filled the product vacuum.
Oyen is concerned this week that local meth labs may spring up again.
