Deputies raid red phosphorus meth lab

[Sitbcknchill]

(SUMMERDALE, Ala.) December 6 -- Three people are in jail after sheriff's deputies raided a Baldwin County meth lab. Police say meth lab seizures are becoming a common occurrences, but this one was not so routine.

Baldwin County Sheriff's deputies made a rare discovery inside a Summerdale mobile home. Police say Travis Dobbins and Dana Pentecost had been making illegal drugs, but what deputies found inside was not a typical meth lab. This crystal methamphetamine lab used a red phosphorus method of producing the drug instead of the more common anhydrous ammonia method.

Baldwin County Sheriff's Department Sgt. John Murphy said, "One of the main issues we have with the red phosphorus lab is that a by product of the process is phosphorus and even a brief encounter is lethal."

Neighbors were surprised when deputies showed up at the mobile home last week and even more surprised when they learned of what was going on inside.

Beth Moore told NBC 15's Leon Petite, "I was shocked myself that I didn't know anything about it because they say you can smell it real bad, the fumes from the chemicals."

Police say unlike other meth labs, red phosphorus labs are odorless and colorless and therefore much harder to detect.

Dana Pentecost, Tina Pentecost and Travis Dobbins have all been arrested and charged. Authorities say Tina Pentecost led police to the lab after being pulled over on a traffic stop in Loxley. A deputy noticed a strange odor coming from her automobile. She was taken to South Baldwin Regional Medical Center and treated for exposure to a meth lab.