The Drug Enforcement Administration raided a house in Avondale Estates on Wednesday afternoon and found materials used to produce synthetic drugs.
The house, at Rockbridge Road and First Avenue in DeKalb County, did not appear any different from others nearby. But as children played next door, DEA officials in gas masks carried jugs of chemicals and laboratory glassware into the street.
The lab being manufactured was a suspected MDMA or Ecstasy lab, DEA spokesman Chuvalo Truesdell told Channel 2 Action News.
Shauna Ewing, a neighbor, said she had never seen anyone at the house, which was up for rent until someone moved in about a month ago.
“Every time you would ride by in your car, if your windows were down, there was some kind of weird taste that would come into the car,” Ewing said. “I’m glad this is being taken care of.”
Rachel Jan Tharp and Patrick Taylor Cossette, who, according to DeKalb County Jail records, live at the house, were booked into the jail Wednesday night. Tharp, 39, and Cossette, 22, were both charged with violating the Georgia Controlled Substance Act.
Truesdell said the investigation is continuing and additional arrests are possible.
—Staff photographer Ben Gray contributed to this report.
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