NEW SHARON — Two people were arrested Friday for allegedly cooking methamphetamine in of a home on Farmington Falls Road where two young children were also living.

Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland called the discovery of a meth laboratory at the home, which was also the site of a heroin overdose reported by a child last April, “horrific.”

“There was methamphetamine being cooked in the house, in the kitchen with two young children inside,” he said in an interview. “It was a tragedy waiting to happen.”

Daniel Villacci, 28, and Tabatha Schoubroek, 30, are each facing charges of trafficking in methamphetamine and endangering the welfare of a child. At least one of the adults is the parent of the children, McCausland said.

The arrests were made Friday after the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency followed up on a tip from the Farmington Police Department, McCausland said in a news release. Agents from the DEA and deputies from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office found evidence of a meth laboratory at the home at 545 Farmington Falls Road, which also is U.S. Route 2.

The children are in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the release. At the time of the arrest, Villacci was free on bail from a previous drug charge, though McCausland said he did not have information on what that charge was.

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According to court records, Villacci recently was sentenced to two years in jail with all but six months suspended for unlawful possession of scheduled drugs. McCausland said he did not have details on why Villacci was not in custody or whether that sentence had been served.

Last April, Villacci and Schoubroek were arrested after the two children came home from school and found the adults unresponsive. One of the children called a relative, who then dialed 911.

Investigators said the pair had overdosed on heroin and the child might have saved their lives by calling for help. In that case, Schoubroek pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of heroin as part of a deferred disposition agreement, which allowed the charge against her to be dropped after a probationary period.

Villacci and Schoubroek are being held at the Franklin County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each.

The Department of Environmental Protection and New Sharon Fire Department were also at the scene Friday to assist with the house cleanup.

It is the sixth methamphetamine laboratory discovered in Maine this year, including one found last Friday in Ellsworth and one that was found earlier this month in Bar Harbor, McCausland said.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm


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