MOTHER OPERATING DRUG LAB IN HOME, POLICE SAY

Strong chemical odors permeated the mobile home in far southeast Oklahoma
City while two children sat in the living room making a calendar, Oklahoma
City police said.

Carla Ann Pierce, 36, of 14821 SE 104, was in the Oklahoma County jail
Friday on complaints of manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of a
firearm.

When police searched Pierce's mobile home, they noticed the odors and found
chemicals and equipment they believe were used to make methamphetamine,
according to police reports.

Capt. Charles Allen said the chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine
are volatile and can cause cancer or even death once the manufacturing
process is started.

Children left in an enclosed area where methamphetamine is being
manufactured are at risk of being injured or killed, Allen said.

"Seventy-five percent of meth labs are found by explosion or fire. A
concentration of six parts per million can cause death. It is dangerous to
all living creatures," Allen said.

Police went to the home Thursday after receiving an anonymous tip that the
home may have a laboratory for making methamphetamine, according to a
police report.

A woman who was not arrested told police to come into the home.

The woman was helping two children make a calendar for a school project,
according to the report. Police did not release the children's ages.

The report said Pierce came out of a bedroom as police entered her home.

Police could see several glass jars with layered chemicals on the kitchen
cabinet and smell a strong chemical odor "associated with the manufacturing
of methamphetamine," according to the report.

Pierce gave police permission to search her home. Police found coffee
filters containing a powder believed to be methamphetamine hanging from a
wire attached to the ceiling in one bedroom, according to the report.

Sgt. Nate Tarver said a relative took the children when police arrested
Pierce, their mother.

Checked-by: Richard Lake