Drug Task Force Raids First Local Meth Lab in Years

Agents of the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force raided an at-home meth lab in Tuscaloosa County for the first time in years Friday, according to a police spokeswoman.

Stephanie Taylor, the public information officer for the Tuscaloosa Police Department, said it has been at least three years since police encountered a homemade lab for manufacturing methamphetamines in the area, and that most meth confiscated in recent years has been produced in and trafficked from Mexico.

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“We had hoped this was a problem that we had seen the last of,” WANTF commander Captain Phil Simpson said.

The Friday raid came following a tip that 37-year-old Jonathon Cooley was cooking drugs at his home on Cooley Town Road in Duncanville.

Agents paid Cooley a visit Friday and could immediately smell a chemical odor coming from a wooden shed behind his home.

Inside, agents found a huge amount of meth oil, finished methamphetamine, a "one-pot" meth lab and several of the household items and chemicals used to cook the dangerous drug.

Cooley was charged with first-degree manufacturing of a controlled substance and one count of trafficking methamphetamine. He was booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where his bond was set at $1 million.