Authorities in eastern Virginia who were responding to a car crash earlier this week inadvertently stumbled upon a mobile meth lab.

The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said deputies discovered a meth lab inside a minivan Thursday morning when the deputies smelled odors “consistent with the production and manufacturing of methamphetamines” spilling from the vehicle along U.S. Route 17 in York County.

Authorities secured the area and rerouted traffic for several hours while lab personnel in Hazmat suits searched the mobile meth lab, police said.

They uncovered “items and chemicals used to produce methamphetamines, containers actively cooking methamphetamines, methamphetamine, a syringe and small amount of marijuana,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Dennis Ivey told The Washington Post “there was stuff mixing up” inside the van when deputies found it.

Police said the driver, Robert C. Copley Jr., was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of marijuana; a 27-year-old woman, Jennifer D. Kendrick, was charged with possession of methamphetamine.

Police said Copley is 37 years old, but online booking records indicate that he is 38.

The suspects are in custody at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, according to booking records. Court-appointed attorneys for Copley and Kendrick were not immediately available for comment.

The Justice Department’s former National Drug Intelligence Center once released warnings about methamphetamine laboratories.

It stated:

Methamphetamine laboratories may be located virtually anywhere. Laboratories have been found in secluded rural areas as well as in residential, commercial, and industrial districts. Law enforcement officers have seized laboratories at private residences, commercial properties, hotels and motels, and outdoor locations. Mobile laboratories have been discovered in automobiles, boats, and luggage.
The agency said that the chemicals used to cook methamphetamine are “extremely hazardous.”

Some are highly volatile and may ignite or explode if mixed or stored improperly. Fire and explosion pose risks not only to the individuals producing the drug but also to anyone in the surrounding area, including children, neighbors, and passersby.
Even when fire or explosion does not occur, methamphetamine production is dangerous. Simply being exposed to the toxic chemicals used to produce the drug poses a variety of health risks, including intoxication, dizziness, nausea, disorientation, lack of coordination, pulmonary edema, serious respiratory problems, severe chemical burns, and damage to internal organs.
One York-Poquoson Sheriff’s deputy at the scene Thursday morning was taken to a hospital and treated for exposure to chemical fumes, though his condition was not life-threatening, police said.

Data from the Drug Enforcement Administration shows that there are no other known clandestine meth laboratories in Poquoson or York counties.

However, James City County police spokeswoman Stephanie Williams told the Daily Press that law enforcement officers were asked to search a home Thursday afternoon that was connected to the case involving the mobile meth lab. Local and state authorities as well as Tri-Rivers Drug Task Force assisted in the search in Toano, according to the newspaper.

Williams did not confirm who lived there, but the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said Copley, who was driving the van, lived on the same street.

Williams told the Daily Press that authorities did not find any evidence at the residence.

Authorities said that the investigation is ongoing and that additional arrests are pending.

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