Raid uncovers large meth lab

Staff report

NORTH JACKSON

A methamphetamine lab uncovered in a raid Tuesday could be one of the biggest of its kind in the state.

Jackson Township Chief of Police Greg Taillon said township authorities along with members of the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force and Portage County Sheriff deputies executed a search warrant at a Warren-Salem Road home at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Once inside the home, Taillon said he had to call a private cleanup company based in Vermilion to help because the methamphetamine production was bigger than they anticipated and more than Portage County officials could handle.

Craig Davis, 29, was arrested and arraigned in Mahoning County Area Court on Wednesday morning on a charge of illegal manufacture and illegal cultivation of drugs, a third-degree felony. He remained in the Mahoning County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

His father, Nathan Davis, 61, was arraigned on the same felony charge and a misdemeanor charge of permitting drug abuse. He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor and remains free on a $10,500 bond he posted after he was arrested and booked into the jail.

They each have preliminary hearings set for Wednesday.

Taillon said authorities found an active pot of meth when they executed their raid, and authorities did not leave the home until 7 p.m. due to the cleanup process.

He said there were 164 “one pots,” a single bottle used to manufacture methamphetamine in the home. He said that “has the potential to be one of the largest raids in the state.”

Taillon also said authorities had been monitoring the home for some time.

Taillon also contacted the Mahoning County District Board of Health due to large amounts of trash in the home and a toilet full of feces.

He said the home was in an “unsanitary condition and unlivable.”

In county court in Sebring, Robert Uyselt, 44, of First Street in Beloit, is expected to be arraigned today on a charge of illegal possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, also a third- degree felony.

He was arrested Friday when Goshen police and members of the adult-parole authority went to his home to investigate a possible parole violation and found a suspected meth lab inside the home.