REMAINS OF METH HOUSE MAR GWINNETT NEIGHBORHOOD

On Feb. 17, the Spring Mill neighborhood was abuzz with firefighters,
police officers, paramedics and gawkers after a meth lab explosion
caused a fire that killed three young children.

But what happened to the house after the chaos died down, the children
were buried, 4,555 grams of liquid meth were carted away and three
people were charged?

Not much, neighbors say.

Becky Bridges is confronted with a ghastly reminder of what happened
each time she comes and goes from her neighborhood because the house
sits at the entrance. It's vacant, its windows boarded, its shrubs
unkempt. Hot pink fliers tacked to the facade warn people that the
home was once a clandestine laboratory for the manufacture of illegal
drugs.

"The very worst part of it for me," Bridges said, "is that every time
I look at that house, I think of the three children that died."

So, too, does John Lease, a carpenter who was returning to work when
he saw the blaze and stopped to help. Lease scaled a ladder to fetch
the children as they yelled frantically.

"Every day I deal with the memories of the babies. I can't get it out
of my head, especially since I have to drive by it every day," Lease
said. "I can't see [anyone] wanting to live there after what happened."

Police say Isaac Guevara, 4, Ivan Guevara, 3, and 18-month-old Stacy
Brito died from burns and smoke inhalation.

Their mother, Neibi Brito, 22, and two men, Ivan Gonzales, 26, and
Joseph Alexander Perez, 31, have been charged with murder, trafficking
in meth and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. Brito
and Perez are being held without bond in the Gwinnett County jail.
Gonzales is at large.

The homeowner who was renting to someone connected to the suspects,
Socorro Sepulveda, lives in California. Neighbors say she had the
charred material removed from the house, but she has not undertaken
any renovations. A reporter's attempts to reach her this week were
unsuccessful because her phone was disconnected.

Cpl. Edwin Ritter, a Gwinnett County police spokesman, said a code
enforcement officer issued the homeowner a notice of violation of
county ordinances because of the home's unkempt state, but police have
also had difficulty contacting her. She reportedly told police that
repairs have been delayed because she is in a dispute with her
insurance company.

Travis Bailey had a similar headache on his hands after he rented out
an investment property in Norcross to a woman who seemed upstanding.
Police raided the house at 3355 Newbury Road on Nov. 30 and say they
found nearly a half ton of methamphetamine worth $44 million inside.
Drug dealers evidently used the woman as a straw renter and set up a
meth superlab, Bailey said.

The house is now vacant, its utilities turned off. Bailey said his
insurance did not cover damage from chemical contamination, and it may
cost $10,000 to have the house cleaned. Meanwhile, he is losing $800 a
month in rent. Bailey has had difficulty finding information about
what to do next.

"I would love if there were good resources to help a homeowner know
what the next step is," Bailey said.

Roszell Gadson, a spokesman for State Farm, said his company does not
have a record of insuring either of the houses, but in general a
homeowner using a residence as a rental property should buy a rental
dwelling policy and not a homeowner's policy.

A fire or explosion would be covered if the homeowner had a rental
dwelling policy and was not intentionally involved in criminal
activity. Chemical contamination, however, is not covered under most
homeowner's or rental dwelling insurance policies, Gadson said.

Contamination poses a huge problem. The vapors from the toxic
chemicals used to cook methamphetamine can seep into the walls and
structure of a home, and Gordy Powell, director of field operations
for a specialty cleaning firm, Georgia Clean and Associates, said
exposure to them is potentially deadly. Professional cleaners wear
protective equipment and use ventilators.

Powell said 98 percent of the meth labs he sees are in rental
properties. He recommends landlords check for signs of meth activity
such as windows covered with tinfoil or blacked out, and strange
chemical odors. An abundance of batteries, propane tanks or antifreeze
bottles in the trash could also signal a meth lab, he said.

Don Kiefaber, a Realtor and resident of the Spring Mill subdivision,
said most of the neighbors have lived there for more than 10 years.
They worry the vacant house will attract vagrants, mice and
degenerates as long as it sits empty.

"You would like for there to be a quick fix," Kiefaber said, "but
obviously there just isn't."