HOULTON, Maine — Debris found in a garage fire late Thursday on Johnson Street led firefighters to call police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, who later charged a local man who lives in the home next to the garage with selling methamphetamine.
Thomas Lowery, 36, was arrested after investigators found items “involving the suspected manufacturing of methamphetamine,” MDEA commander Peter Arno said in a Friday press release posted on the department’s Facebook page.
Lowery was charged with Class B trafficking in Schedule W drugs, which could send him to prison for up to 10 years and result in a $20,000 fine.
Firefighters who fought the blaze at 5 Johnson St. in Houlton called the Houlton Police Department, who asked the MDEA to assist at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Based upon evidence gathered during the investigation, agents had probable cause to believe that methamphetamine was being manufactured on the property,” Arno said.
Lowery was taken to the Aroostook County Jail and bail was set at $5,000 cash, the MDEA director said.
“The origin and cause of the fire in the garage remains under investigation,” Arno said.
The suspected meth lab is the eighth responded to by MDEA agents in Maine this year, and the third in Aroostook County.