TASK FORCE BUSTS 54TH METH LAB

SOMERVILLE -- Bill O'Dell looked through his closets Monday afternoon
to see if his stepson, Steven Brandon Hopper, had left anything at his
house. O'Dell said he found the chemical precursors and equipment to
make methamphetamine.

The Morgan County Drug Task Force responded to his request to come to
his Church Road home between Priceville and Somerville in Morgan
County around 4:25 p.m.

They brought the chemicals outside to analyze them and air them out in
the front yard. This is the 54th meth lab bust in Morgan County this
year, compared to 11 total in 2003.

The closet where O'Dell found the chemicals and equipment was in a
bedroom where Hopper lived with his girlfriend and their young son,
O'Dell said.

"I know he's been coming over here," O'Dell said of his
stepson.

"He'd gotten in trouble not long ago for leaving Wal-Mart in the early
morning with other people and buying suspicious amounts of things.
When he got in trouble in Decatur, I told him he had to get out."

Decatur police charged Hopper with possession of drug paraphernalia
and unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance.

On Monday, task force officers Tony Fetner and Jim England found a
very small amount of finished methamphetamine, in addition to meth
oil, the organic solvents used to make meth, a hot plate, a gas
generator and other equipment.

The lab is one of the smaller ones the task force has found, and like
many others, the equipment can manufacture about an ounce of meth at a
time, said England.

The largest labs the task force finds are large enough to make meth by
the pound.

Hopper was not at the scene and was not charged.

Fetner explained that an investigation is pending, and a suspect would
be charged with manufacturing methamphetamine. He did not identify the
suspect.

The company, Harbor and Ferguson, a contractor for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, cleaned up the hazardous materials. The
Somerville Fire Department also responded.