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After a daylong investigation, UNM’s Police Department found Thursday that an anonymous report about a possible meth lab at Lobo Village turned out to be false.
UNMPD Operations Lieutenant Trace Peck said an anonymous caller reported the possibility of a meth lab in a Lobo Village apartment Wednesday night. Peck said UNMPD asked the help of Albuquerque Police Department’s drug unit to investigate the scene later that night.
“We got a call last night from anonymous caller about chemicals in one of the apartments,” he said. “The caller was concerned that it could possibly be a meth lab. Officers responded down to Lobo Village and were able to get inside the apartment.”
According to a police report released by UNMPD, officers obtained permission from Lobo Village’s management to enter the apartment.
There were other residents in the apartment at the time of the incident, according to the report.
Officers then vacated the apartment and asked the Albuquerque Fire Department’s hazmat team to check if the chemicals were dangerous. According to the report, the team identified that there was “not serious danger to the area and only to the specific residence.”
Peck said police found chemicals in the apartment’s kitchen and in one of the bedrooms where the meth lab was alleged to be housed. But he said APD’s drug unit did not find evidence that the chemicals were mixed to make meth.
“They did observe some chemicals sitting on the kitchen counter, but they have not been used,” he said. “They were just in bottles and were just in plain view. These were chemicals that you could buy in any hardware store.”
Peck said one of the chemicals observed at the scene was iodine but he declined to give more examples.
Peck said UNMPD has identified who was living in the apartment where the chemicals were found. But he said police will not name the suspect, who Peck said was “not a student,” until they finish their investigation.
According to the police report, the 20-year-old suspect “stated to officers that he was using chemicals to manufacture a type of psychedelic drug from a recipe that he had located on the internet. He stated that he has used mushrooms in the past but wanted something without the same side effects.”
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The suspect said he started gathering the chemicals two days before the incident, and he did not know that his roommates would be home.
But at the moment, the suspect does not face any criminal charges, Peck said.
“It definitely was not a meth lab. So there’s not going to be any charges for any kind of methamphetamine,” he said. “They probably violated some type of Lobo Village policy.”
According to the police report, samples of the found chemicals were sent to the APD Crime Lab for further investigation. Police released the suspect pending further investigation.
Peck said UNMPD does not know when investigation on the incident will conclude, and that the process could take weeks.
This is the first time UNMPD has received a report about the possibility of a meth lab at Lobo Village, Peck said. He said the situation was an “isolated incident that we don’t do on a daily basis,” and that UNMPD has received no other similar reports around UNM.
Peck said he advises students to be more aware of their surroundings and to report suspicious activity around campus.
“If you see something, say something,” he said. “Be proactive.”
UNM’s dean of students office is conducting a separate investigation of the incident to see if the suspect was in violation of the University’s Student and Visitor Code of Conduct.
Robert Burford, student conduct officer for the dean of students, said the office is looking at whether the suspect has violated UNM’s drug policy. But Burford said the office will not have a conclusion soon.
“We’re investigating to see what exactly happened … to find out if there are indeed any policy violations,” he said. “We’re seeing if this may have violated our drug policy, and if there is any disruption in the living environment there. But there hasn’t been any determination made whether that has happened or not.”
Burford said that if the suspect is proven to have violated campus policy, he could face penalties ranging from probation to being banned from campus. He said any student involved with the incident could face penalties ranging from verbal warning to expulsion.
Burford said he is unsure whether the suspect was in violation of Lobo Village policy.
American Campus Communities, a Texas-based company that oversees Lobo Village, did not return calls by the Daily Lobo by press time.
