The home next door doesn’t have annoying dogs, they don’t throw parties and they don’t work on Harleys at midnight, but Timmons suspects they cook meth.
“The smell is so bad,” Timmons said.
She reports caustic, flammable vapors, odors similar to cat pee, fine residues coating nearby yards.
“It gets into your clothes,” she said. “I have to wash them all the time.”
Whether Timmons truly eats, sleeps, and cares for her son and two dogs next to a bona fide meth lab remains unclear. According to her, the place shows the appropriate signs: excessive trash disposal, nighttime activity, and of course, a constant odor.
“It smells like dirty socks to me,” said Lake County Public Information Officer Steve Brooks. “We used to have a lot of meth labs here.”
Brooks said Lake County was once a hotbed of meth houses. Tips came in about several places with tell-tale meth lab signs, especially places with makeshift security and heavy — shambling — traffic.
But prices of common meth ingredients increased. In addition, pharmacies began securing ingredients behind counters. Cold medicine, batteries, and other meth staples simply became too expensive or difficult to process and distribute. As a result, local meth rings did what any company might do — outsource.
Brooks said the Sheriff’s office believes most of Lake County’s meth comes out of Mexico, where it can be made at a fraction of the price. Granted, some holdouts still produce on home turf.
“Yeah, I think there’s probably a small handful,” Brooks said, referring to meth labs in the Lake County area. “But very seldom do we come across a working lab.”
But Brooks said he has trouble believing labs would exist among other homes and homeowners. With all the unavoidable side effects and byproducts of creating meth, a lab would likely assume a rural setting.
But Timmons said she remains sceptical, if not certain. She said she spent upwards of $10,000 after her neighbors moved in, attempting to pin down where the fumes and residue was originating. After checking up on her own home and car, she turned her attention
next door.
“All the trees on that side of my yard died,” Timmons said.
She also said other neighbors in the area have noticed strange signs of airborne chemicals such as hair loss, mood alterations, and sleep loss. When she confronts her neighbors about their behavior, they have little to say.
“They’ll usually call the cops on me,” she said.
According to Brooks, reports of meth labs often fall short when they arrive at the scene. Some tips reveal working labs, but most tips reveal abandoned meth labs or just run-down homes.
Timmons said she has tried to catch her neighbors in the act, but they pack up, hide, or leave by the time police arrive with a warrant.
“They’re crafty devils,” Timmons said. “They’ll go away for a few days, but sure enough, they come back and they’re at it again.”
