Police in Delaware County happened upon a suspected meth lab after chasing a pharmacy shoplifter to a home.
The incident started when a Glenolden officer purchasing an anniversary card for his wife from a CVS on MacDade Boulevard was alerted by a store employee that a man who appeared to be high had spent about an hour in the store but didn't purchase anything early Tuesday, said Collingdale Borough Police Chief Robert Adams.
The officer sent out a description of the suspect who darted out of the store.
Another officer spotted inside the screen door in the back of a home on the 1200 block of MacDade Boulevard around 1:20 a.m., said Adams. The home is about one block from the CVS.
An officer knocked on the front door and a woman, who is known to police, came to the door and said a man matching the suspect description -- later identified as Timothy Fauls -- was home so she brought him to the door, said Adams. [[397457811, C]]
Fauls told investigators he had hit his head while shopping and had left his items in the store, said Adams. A pat down revealed no items from the CVS.
Another officer arrived at the duplex to interview the woman, later identified as Christine Andress-Nye. [[238427591, C]]
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"When the officer stepped in the house he saw what appears to be the making of some sort of lab, there were chemicals around and products lying around," said Adams.
Andress-Nye pointed to officer to some bags that she said Fauls -- who wasn't staying at the home -- had brought over in the past few days, said Adams. She believed the items had tools and clothing in them but the officer spotted a white powdery substance, lighter fluid, crushed pills and an empty box of the decongestant Sudafed (an ingredient used to make crystal meth) visible, said Adams.
Police evacuated the home and two people and their pets from a second-floor apartment as they waited for state police drug investigators to inspect the home, said Adams. Pennsylvania State Police executed a search warrant and determined the home to be a meth lab
Besides the meth lab materials, police also found heroin and a large amount of cash.
Police detained Fauls, who hails from Springfield; Andress-Nye and a third man -- who was asleep on the coach at the time -- Michael Papale on charges including criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment, risking a catastrophe and drug dealing.
