Psychedelic drug lab discovered inside Boyertown home

The state police Clandestine Lab Response Team was called to a Boyertown home this week after local police found an array of solvents, chemicals and equipment used to manufacture and package illegal drugs, authorities said in court papers.

Eastern Berks Regional police were initially called to the home in the 200 block of Shaner Street about noon Wednesday by a man who told them that he believed his roommate, Alexander B. Bach, 46, may be trying to poison him, investigators said. The man asked police to test a suspicious substance in the kitchen.

Investigators provided the following account in the criminal complaint against Bach:

The caller led police to a refrigerator. Inside the freezer portion was a glass cooking pan that contained about one-quarter inch of a clear yellowish liquid from which crystals were starting to grow.

On the counter was a 2-gallon jug containing a leafy substance and an unknown liquid. A bottle of vinegar and a bottle of enamel thinner were next to the jug.

Police secured the home and detached garage while they obtained a search warrant.

On the third floor where Bach resided they found a digital scale, a respirator, a mason jar filled with a clear waxy substance and several containers of a clear yellowish crystal substance. Fearing that crystal meth may be in the process of being manufactured, police requested the state police lab unit.

The lab response unit arrived about 6:30 p.m.

During the search of the living quarters and garage investigators seized several rubber containers with a crystal material determined to be DMT, or dimethyltryptamin, a strong psychedelic found in some plants and animals, along with packaging materials and equipment and drug-smoking pipes.

Investigators also found raw plant-like materials and a few liquid substances that are used in the process of extracting the drug and converting it into crystal form.

DMT, which is considered an illegal narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act, was in various stages of manufacture inside the residence, investigators said.

Bach was arrested and charged with two felony counts of manufacturing, possessing and intending to deliver a controlled substance. Arrest details were unavailable.

He was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail to await a hearing following arraignment Thursday night before District Judge Sandra L. Fegley in Reading Central Court.

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