Police: Meth lab found in shed

Johanna S. Billings, Special to The County
9 years ago

SHERMAN, Maine — The state fire marshal’s office that evidence of a meth lab was discovered after a fire Sunday inside a shed in Sherman.

Todd Budick, 45, was treated at the scene for burns to his hands, arms and face, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said in a news release issued Monday.

The lab was discovered after an off-duty firefighter drove by the property on Gallison Road and saw that Budick’s clothes were on fire, McCausland said.

Budick lived in a house on the same property at 313 Gallison Road, which burned to the ground March 28. Fire investigators suspected that methamphetamine may have played a role in that fire, but the cause could not be determined because of the extent of the damage, McCausland said.

Fire investigators have been joined by members of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency’s lab team, which is cleaning up the remnants of the methamphetamine manufacturing discovered inside the shed, he said.

The making of methamphetamine is highly flammable and explosive. This is the 23rd meth-related response by MDEA and law enforcement this year in Maine, McCausland said.