LUDLOW — For the second time in eight months, an Aroostook County couple was arrested this week and charged in connection with an alleged methamphetamine manufacturing operation.
James Anthony, 31, of Ludlow and Kayla Nason, 26, of Houlton were arrested Tuesday at a remote cabin in Ludlow, just outside of Houlton, after agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency went to conduct a bail check and found the makings of a methamphetamine lab inside, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
Nason’s 48-year-old mother, Tara Walton, also was arrested at the cabin.
All three were charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and taken to the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton, McCausland reported in a news release issued Wednesday. In addition, Anthony and Walton were charged with violating their bail conditions on previous drug charges.
Anthony and Nason also had been arrested last June after deputies with the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call and learned Nason had been brought to Houlton Regional Hospital, where she was treated for chemical burns from what appeared to be a meth manufacturing operation inside a car, according to the MDEA.
The car found on the Ludlow Road in Ludlow was impounded. After agents seized methamphetamine and “a significant amount” of other evidence from inside the vehicle, Nason was charged with unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and Anthony with aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, because of a prior drug felony conviction.
On Wednesday, McCausland said the MDEA’s meth lab response team was at the cabin on Townline Road to gather evidence and dispose of the dangerous and explosive chemicals.
This is the 12th meth-related incident in Maine this year, he said.
