Updated: 10/08/2009 9:46 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm

Hazmat Called to Apparent St. Paul Meth Lab

A stand off led police to discover a possible methamphetamine lab in a neighborhood near St. Paul Bible College.

Police officers went to a home at 1311 Englewood Ave around 7 p.m. Wednesday night to check on the man who lives at there. When they arrived, the man barricaded himself inside, threatened to hurt himself and displayed an ax.

By 10 p.m. negotiators convinced him to come outside and he was arrested. Police identified the man as Eric Paul Ondler.

During the investigation officers noticed a strong odor of chemicals. Overnight a search warrant was executed, a hazmat team moved in and the Drug Enforcement Agency responded to the scene.

While the fire chief said the neighborhood was in no immediate danger, Thursday, emergency crews evacuated the homes on either side of the alleged meth house as a precaution. Chemicals used to make meth can be explosive.

Peter Anfang who lives in one of the evacuated homes said, "I woke up this morning to them kicking me out of the house."

The hazmat team emptied the home of the dangerous chemicals and tested air quality as concerned neighbors watched.

Nancy Mosbeck said, "The activity is not welcome in this neighborhood at all."

Ondler was arrested for making terroristic threats, but not been charged.

Minnesota has seen a drop in meth labs in the last few years..

A law passed in 2005 makes is harder to get pseudoephedrine-containing drugs, like cold medicines, which are a main ingredient in meth.

In 2005, there were 128 meth labs found.

By 2006, there were 73. That's the most recent number from the department of health.