Created: 9/13/2007 1:06:36 PM 
(Lexington County) - Lexington officers arrested a man they say operated a secret meth lab connected to a ring of others at a home on Foxtrot Trail near Pelion after they smelled a chemical odor nearby.
Officers also seized what appeared to be a live mortar round, which was found at the home.
Sheriff James R. Metts said Lexington drug officers charged 39-year-old Edgar Rita Lake, II of 135 Foxtrot Trail, Pelion with manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing methamphetamine and unlawfully disposing of waste from a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory.
Lake is being held at the Lexington County jail while awaiting a bond hearing.
Narcotics Enforcement Team officers say that the secret methamphetamine laboratory that Lake operated at his home on Foxtrot Trail is linked to a drug ring that operated five laboratories that NET officers seized on August 30 and August 31 at homes in the Gaston, Lexington and Pelion communities.
The methamphetamine laboratory found at Lake's home remains under investigation, and NET officers expect to make additional arrests in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Investigators say at about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Lexington County Communications Center received a call about a strong chemical odor emanating from the man's home. As deputies were on their way to Lake's home, a Highway Patrolman saw Lake standing at the end of the driveway and determined that his behavior was suspicious.
Both the deputy and the trooper say they smelled a strong chemical odor coming from Lake's home, and saw that he appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
The deputy handcuffed Lake and placed him in investigative detention.
Additional deputies responded to Lake?s home and found a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in the home's kitchen that was actively being used to manufacture methamphetamine.
NET officers say they found a small amount of methamphetamine and what appeared to be a live mortar round at Lake's home.
The Lexington County Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team removed the device from the home.
NET officers are working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to determine what charges, if any, should be filed against Lake in connection with the explosive device that they say was found at his home.
A company that contracts with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration responded to Lake?s home to dismantle the clandestine methamphetamine laboratory, Metts said. NET officers requested that the DEA send a contract clean-up company because exposed lithium battery strips that were found at the laboratory created a heightened risk of an explosion at the laboratory.
Deputies say the methamphetamine laboratory found at Lake's home was the 12th laboratory that NET officers have seized in Lexington County so far this year.
You can call Crimestoppers at 1-888-559-TIPS if you're suspicious of any drug activity in your neighborhood.
