Authorities say Pascagoula FEMA trailer turned into meth lab

Published 6:51 pm Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Two people arrested in Pascagoula this week are accused of turning their FEMA trailer into a methamphetamine lab.

Jason Nelson and Javonne Buza were arrested Monday at the trailer, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued as post-Hurricane Katrina housing.

“It’s total chaos. They just completely destroy the trailers. And the whole trailer is contaminated now because the lab was here,” Jackson County Narcotics Task Force Commander Curtis Spiers told WLOX-TV in Biloxi-Gulfport.

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Authorities said FEMA workers went the trailer to do an inspection last week but were turned away.

Authorities with the Jackson County Narcotics Task Force said FEMA officials, believing suspicious activity was going on inside, contacted law enforcement. Monday afternoon, FEMA workers went to the trailer with officers from the Pascagoula Police Department and the Narcotics Task Force. Inside, they found several items commonly used to make meth.

“Different types of camp fuel, as well as acetone, denatured alcohol, and common table salt, as well as rock salt, ammonium nitrate fertilizer,” Spiers said. “If you have a case of Sudafed or 24 bottles of Red Devil, you have something bigger than a drain problem or something bigger than a cold.”

Nelson and Buza are charged with felonies for possession and manufacturing meth. Officials said there’s also evidence a young child lived in the trailer.

Nelson already was on probation for possession of a controlled substance.