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Gene Kennedy Reporting A suspicious car in a Maverik parking lot leads to a surprising discovery.
"Usually they have a legitimate reason for being there. But occasionally we find something like this," authorities say.
People often call police to report suspicious behavior, and many times it turns out to be nothing. Last night, though, a citizen complained about something he saw at a Maverik station, and it led to a couple of arrests.
A citizen saw a car parked at the Maverick at 300 W. 1700 South for a long time. It didn't feel right, and once police got there they understood why someone complained.
When officers questioned the man in a red Honda, they found out he had outstanding warrants, for what, we're not sure. Police say the man and the woman with him both had meth on them, so police cuffed them and searched the car.
Lt. Dave Cracroft, Salt Lake City Police: "At that point the car was going to be impounded. So upon an inventory search they found other items in the car-- precursors and glassware belonging to a meth lab."
Police found ephedrine pills, also iodine. They say it was a partial-portable meth lab sitting in the Maverik parking lot.
It was enough of a concern that police called the fire department to decontaminate the suspects on scene, hose them down and give them clean clothes so they could be booked into jail.
All this took place as customers were pulling up in the Maverik station and filling up their gas tanks.
The complaint call came in at 8:00 last night, and police were still on scene cleaning up the clandestine lab around midnight. Both the man and woman are in jail this morning, but police are not releasing their names.
