FAIRFIELD — A Fairfield man was arrested Monday afternoon by agents of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in connection with last week’s discovery of a methamphetamine laboratory at a residence.

Jared C. Colby, 22, of 9 Serenity Circle, was charged with criminal conspiracy and drug trafficking. Colby also was issued summonses by Fairfield police earlier Monday on charges of cultivation of marijuana and possession of a usable amount of marijuana in connection with the search warrant Fairfield police served at the house last week.

“Our search warrant was for another matter, of which we are still investigating and cannot comment,” Fairfield Police Chief Thomas Gould said Monday. “During the search we located an indoor marijuana grow as well as a one-pot meth lab.”

Fairfield police turned the meth lab investigation over to drug agents.

On Wednesday, while serving a search warrant on an unrelated matter at the Serenity Circle home, police allegedly found materials used to manufacture methamphetamine, according to Gould.

The officers contacted the DEA, which drew up a second warrant that allowed agents to confiscate the drug materials, police said.

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A 2013 state report found that most methamphetamine in Maine is produced from small-scale operations, known as one pot or shake and bake labs, which produce about 2 ounces of meth at a time.

The number of confirmed meth labs is small, but growing, with state statistics showing a high of 12 discovered labs in 2012, up from just one in 2009.

Gould said the marijuana grow operation was a small one with about 15 plants.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367 dharlow@centralmaine.com Twitter: @Doug_Harlow


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