The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency last weekend discovered evidence of two methamphetamine labs, including one that was found when Penobscot Nation Police responded to the death of a 38-year-old woman on Indian Island.
On Saturday, tribal police were called to a home on the island near Old Town after the woman died. While in the home, police found items they believed had been used to make methamphetamine and called the MDEA for assistance. The agency’s Lab Response Team collected samples for analysis and turned hazardous materials over to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The suspected meth-making operation and the circumstances of the woman’s death are being investigated by Penobscot Nation Police and the MDEA. Police said the woman’s identity and details about her death are not being released. They said there was no evidence of foul play.
On Sunday, the Lab Response Team was called to the Hancock County town of Bucksport after local police responded to a disturbance on Canal Street and found items they suspected were used to make meth.
Drug agents and Bucksport police arrested 28-year-old Megan Patten on a charge of unlawful operation of a meth lab. Drug agents had found a different meth-making operation in her house in November. Patten remains in custody at the Hancock County Jail.
The two incidents were the first responses of the year by the MDEA’s specialized evidence team. The team was used 52 times in 2018, 58 times in 2017, 126 times in 2016 and 56 times in 2015.
Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:
ggraham@pressherald.com
Twitter: grahamgillian
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