EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Police shut down an alleged methamphetamine lab on Main Street for the second time in 10 months and charged a local man with manufacturing the illegal drug Thursday.
Nicholas Champagne, 23, of East Millinocket, was charged Thursday with Class A aggravated trafficking (manufacturing) in Schedule W drugs and violation of bail, police said.
Police Chief Cameron McDunnah was among several police who visited Apt. 2 at 81 Main St. on Thursday afternoon to search Champagne for possible violations of bail conditions. Champagne was out on bail in connection with a methamphetamine possession charge from an arrest in July, police said.
Police said they saw several items in the apartment typically used in the “one pot” or “shake and bake” method of methamphetamine manufacture. They took Champagne into custody and notified members of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. Agency members got a search warrant and dismantled the alleged methamphetamine laboratory, police said.
Police and MDEA investigators raided an apartment at that same address on Oct. 21, seizing 3 or 4 grams of methamphetamine and charging Beau Pelletier, 31, and Cyntha Burley, 33, with Class B trafficking in Schedule W drugs.
Neighbors around the apartment building said they suspected criminal activity was occurring there. They said the apartment was being visited frequently by individuals for short stays at all hours.
Champagne was not involved in the October incident, police said.
The Oct. 21 raid followed another raid the night before at a Lake Road home in Monticello in which Matthew Thibodeau, 27, of Monticello was charged with Class B trafficking in Schedule W drugs and Class B possession of scheduled drugs.
It was unclear whether those two meth lab operations were connected. The disposition of the charges against Pelletier, Burley and Thibodeau could not be determined late Thursday.
Champagne is being held without bail at Penobscot County Jail in Bangor. He is due to appear in court at the Penobscot Judicial Center on Friday, a jail spokeswoman said.