3 Held in Discovery of Illegal Drug Lab
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Sheriff’s deputies say they have discovered a methamphetamine lab in the basement of an Ojai house and arrested three people suspected of manufacturing the illegal drug.
Investigators found 5 gallons of raw “meth oil” during a Monday raid of the residence at 16733 Maricopa Highway that could have yielded 3 to 5 pounds of finished “speed,” sheriff’s officials said.
A pound of methamphetamine powder has a street value of about $6,000, said Sgt. Arnie Aviles of the sheriff’s narcotics unit.
The house’s occupant, Kurt Wayne Bledsoe, 34, was arrested and taken to Ventura County Jail on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine. Also booked on the same charge was Leaman Kenneth Valentine, 33, who was in the home at the time of the raid.
After arresting Bledsoe and Valentine, deputies were searching the grounds when Marcel Scheperkamp, 29, drove up in a truck carrying chemicals suspected of being used to make methamphetamine, Aviles said. A Sheriff’s Department vehicle blocked the driveway and Scheperkamp was arrested on conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.
All three men were being held in lieu of $250,000 bail each.
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