Drug lab found in Fair Lawn
by Eric England
Fair Lawn- Three Fair Lawn residents are in federal custody following their arrest over the weekend for allegedly running a clandestine drug laboratory in the borough.
Arrested were Daniel Touby and Lyrissa Touby, both 29, and Rebecca Wilk, all of Fair Lawn. They are charged with maintaining a facility for manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance; forgery; and possession of marijuana, hashish and drug paraphernalia. At press time, the three were awaiting arrangement in Newark federal court.
Lawrence McEllyn, a special agent for the federal Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA), said the case unfolded Jan. 5 in Wanaque when
a resident complained to police that a person whom he had sold a television
set to for $2,000 may have given him a forged check. Shortly after local
authorities were alerted, they noticed a car reportedly attempting to elude
police on Ringwood Avenue in town. Police pulled the car over and arrested
the Toubys on forgery charges.
After a follow-up investigation, Wanaque and Fair Lawn police obtained a search warrant on Jan. 6 for the couple's home at 14-08 River Drive. That evening, authorities allegedly uncovered printing equipment and numerous forged documents in the two-story house. McEllyn said that on the second floor, police discovered a drug laboratory which he said was used to manufacture methylaminorex. The agent defined it as a euphoria drug that is "not readily available" when compared to heroin or cocaine. He said authorities confiscated approximately one pound of the drug.
"Usually, a drug lab is what you find at the end of the investigation," said McEllyn. "Instead, it was the first thing that we found so now we have to backtrack, We know very little about this drug operation."
He added that the Bergen County Haz-Mat team was called to the house because the lab contained cyanogen bromide, which he said is "an extremely poisonous chemical."
McEllyn said that Wilk, who was allegedly in the house at the time of the seizure, is an editor and publisher of "Burning Issues." a magazine which advocates reform of the marijuana laws. The agent also said the house was being used a meeting place for the New Jersey Chapter of N.O.R.M.L. (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.)
The discovery of the drug lab caught Fair Lawn police
by surprise.
"We certainly didn't have any prior knowledge of it," said Police Chief Richard Polhemus. "From what we've learned so far, they've been in town for about a year. We're glad his operation was stopped before it really could have gone far."
McEllyn said that such drug labs are "very rare" on the east coast.
"The only other one I recall was in Philadelphia," he said "They're more common out west, especially in California and Texas."
The horror of the Fair Lawn drug lab. crime, is how many times the Federal Agent Lawrance McEilyn refers to this case as being unusual, in fact it is only the second time a lab. like this one was ever found on the east cost. And the drugs were also referred to as unusual even for this kind of lab. And really alarming is the way he talks about the way the Lab. was found completely by chance. Even the Chief of the Fair Lawn police said that if it weren't for this check fraud incident the lab. Might be operating now.