NORTHPORT, Maine — A Northport couple was arrested Wednesday, accused of making methamphetamine in their apartment.
James Scheider, 39, and Stacy Dykes, 37, of Northport each were charged with Class A operation of a meth lab, Class A trafficking in meth, and violating probation, according to a news release from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
The two were arrested about 2 p.m. at their apartment on Route 1. Agents seized evidence from the residence that indicated the two were using the one-pot method to make meth, according to the MDEA. The one-pot method is when meth is made in a single sealed container that is generally flipped upside down to cause the reaction needed to turn several toxic ingredients into the drug.
Because of the extremely dangerous nature of the ingredients and manufacturing process, members of the MDEA clandestine laboratory enforcement team were called in to handle the evidence. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection assisted in taking the waste products from the meth laboratory for safe disposal.
When arrested, Scheider and Dykes were on probation as part of a sentence they received for trafficking in meth in October 2014 at their previous residence in Bath. Scheider had been sentenced to five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended and three years of probation. Dykes had been sentenced to three years in prison with all but nine months suspended and three years of probation.
In the current case, MDEA agents and Belfast police had received information in February that Scheider and Dykes had moved to Northport and were again manufacturing meth.
State probation and parole officers conducted a probation check on the two, and the meth lab items were allegedly discovered. The two were taken to the Waldo County Jail where they are being held on probation violations.
Assisting in this investigation and in executing the search warrant were officers of the Belfast Police Department and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
This is the 19th meth laboratory-related incident the MDEA has handled in 2016, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.
Anyone with information about this incident or the illegal sale of drugs in Maine, call the MDEA or the tip-line at 800-452-6457.