Boone

When Keith Lockner moved to small town Glen Rock from big city Baltimore a few months ago, he didn't think he'd wind up living near what police call a "meth lab."

"It's pretty crazy," he said Sunday. "I would never have thought it would be out here."

But a methamphetamine lab is what Southern Regional Police ended up finding when officers responded to a domestic dispute at an apartment in the first block of Water Street Thursday night.

Richard Daniel Boone, 43, of the first block of Water Street allegedly operated the lab, according to police.

He is charged with operating a methamphetamine laboratory, causing or risking a catastrophe, manufacture of a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Boone was arraigned and placed into York County Prison in lieu of $85,000 bail, police said.

Dispute: Police were dispatched to Boone's apartment just before midnight for a dispute between Boone and his girlfriend that turned physical, police said.

The woman told officers that Boone grabbed a box containing Baggies of methamphetamine off a bookshelf as he was leaving the apartment, according to Boone's charging documents.

The woman knocked the box out of Boone's hand because she did not want him taking the drugs. Boone picked up all but one bag off the floor and left, documents state.

Officers found the bag and examined it. The woman told officers that the meth was recently made in the couple's former apartment, which is now vacant, across the street at 30 Water Street, documents state.

She then took officers to the apartment and showed them where to find chemicals and equipment used to make the drug, documents state.

Police evacuated the building and called in the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Team to process the scene, police said.

"Their investigation concluded that the site was in fact a meth production site, and all chemicals and equipment were safely removed," Southern Regional Police Chief James Boddington said in an email.

Stewartstown Police, fire police and the Glen Rock and Lineboro fire departments also assisted police.

Arrested: Inside the vacant apartment, police found a number of common ingredients, such as stripped AA batteries, lighter fluid and bottles of ammonia, used to make methamphetamine, documents state.

Boone was arrested about 5:15 a.m. when police spotted him walking near the apartment.

He is also charged with simple assault, harassment, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia in relation to the domestic dispute and for allegedly having a bag containing a white powder on him when he was arrested, documents state.

Boone admitted to police that he had been making and using meth for about a year, documents state.

Additional arrests may be forthcoming, pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation, police said.

Not surprised: Considering the flammability of chemicals used to make methamphetamine, Lockner, who lives a few blocks from where police found the lab, said he's glad police shut it down when they did.

"I'm glad they caught him (Boone) before he blew us all up," he said.

Hannah Canon, 18, said she grew up in Glen Rock and while hearing that a meth lab was found in the borough was a shock, she wasn't surprised.

She said she hears a number of stories about people her age doing drugs.

"A lot of people don't suspect it because its such a small town," Canon said.

- Reach Greg Gross at ggross@yorkdispatch.com.