Two South Avenue residents are in McKean County Jail after police allegedly found a methamphetamine making operation at their residence while looking to arrest someone for shoplifting.
Terry Sorensen, 41, and Teresa Doner, 44, both of 79 South Ave., downstairs, were charged by the McKean County Drug Task Force after police went to the residence around 1 p.m. Tuesday with arrest warrants for Sorensen on a bench warrant and Robert Reed on theft allegations.
Reed, 52, of 22 Congress St., allegedly shoplifted a portable battery pack and a USB charger from Country Fair.
While at the residence, officers observed “paraphernalia and precursors related to the illegal production of methamphetamine,” court records stated. Officers noted that production of meth is not only illegal, but also dangerous, with serious risk of fire, explosion or the release of noxious gas.
There were five people living in the apartment, and another family in an apartment above it, officers noted.
“Detectives then removed all persons from the apartment building due to the fact that methamphetamine labs and associated chemicals are highly explosive,” explained District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer. “The Bradford City Fire Department was placed on standby.”
A clandestine lab response team, made up of agents from state Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office and the state police, executed a search warrant at the apartment. The team seized “numerous hazardous items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine,” Shaffer said.
Police listed some of the items seized as “five plastic bottles containing white solids which is known as a ‘one pot shake and bake method,’ six gas generators with lithium stripping, 89 pseudoephedrine pills in blister packs, instant cold packs, camp fuels, acetone, denatured alcohol and salts.
“With all of the components and chemicals taken, there was a complete meth lab within the residence,” court records allege.
Doner admitted to police that she had been conspiring with Sorensen, her boyfriend, since Jan. 1 to assist him in cooking meth with the “one pot shake and bake method,” court records allege.
She told police she had purchase pseudoephedrine for the process, and that she used the meth herself “from time to time,” according to court records. She admitted to knowing the dangers of the process, saying she had seen it nearly start a fire inside the residence.
Police said Doner and Sorensen worked as a team to obtain the materials to manufacture meth, both for their own habits and for sale, the complaints allege.
“Methamphetamine production has been on the rise in our county as well as neighboring counties and there have been several recent arrests,” Shaffer said. “Meth production risks the life of the user and also those near the production due to its explosive nature — often times innocent neighbors who have no knowledge of what is occurring.”
Sorensen was charged with manufacturing/possession with intent to deliver meth, possessing precursors, operating a meth lab and conspiring to do all three charges, all felonies; risking a catastrophe, a third-degree felony; 35 counts of possession of meth, misdemeanors; and five counts of recklessly endangering another person, second-degree misdemeanors.
He was arraigned before District Judge Dom Cercone and remanded to jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
Doner was charged with conspiring to manufacture/possess with the intent to deliver meth, possessing precursors and operating a meth lab, all felonies; risking a catastrophe, a third-degree felony; 35 counts of possession of meth, misdemeanors; and five counts of recklessly endangering another person, second-degree misdemeanors.
She was arraigned by Cercone and jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail as well.
Both are scheduled to appear in Central Court on Thursday.
Reed has not been charged in connection to the alleged meth operation.
Regarding the recent drug activity in the region, Shaffer issued a plea to the public Thursday afternoon: “I ask that anyone who has information on methamphetamine or any other illegal drug activity to please contact the McKean County Drug Task Force at the McKean County District Attorney’s Office by telephone (814) 887-3312 or by email MCDTFtip@gmail.com.”
