ST. MARYS, Ga. – Deputies with the Camden County Sheriff's Office and the Kingsland Police Department shut down a significant methamphetamine lab less than 1,000 feet from St. Marys Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon.
After the home at 211 West Dillingham Street was raided about 2 p.m., agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Clandestine Lab Waste Removal System entered the lab and determined it was an active meth lab.
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Numerous items used in the manufacture of meth were found in the home, along with a yet-to-be-determined amount of the finished crystal methamphetamine.
IMAGES: Inside St. Marys meth lab
Deputies immediately arrested Mark Adams, 39, of Philadelphia, Miss., and Benjamin Rivers, 22, of St. Marys. About 90 minutes later, Kansas Cochran, 19, was arrested when she returned to the scene with her child. All three were charged with one count of manufacturing methamphetamine.
The child, who also lived in the home, was turned over to the Division of Family and Children Services.
The GBI found one actively cooking bottle of methamphetamine that had to be separated from all other items found due to the explosive nature of the mixture. In the wooded area near the apartment, investigators found discarded plastic bottles containing the hazardous waste of the cooking process.
The lab is believed to be the largest ever shut down in Camden County.
Camden County Sheriff Tommy Gregory said he is very pleased that a working meth lab just blocks from St. Marys Elementary School was shut down.
"Having a working lab of this size near our children is frightening," Gregory said. "Meth is a tremendous threat to our community, not only because of the drugs being produced, but because of the highly toxic chemical residues left behind that can lead to an explosion at any moment."