Chamblee police are searching for a man they say fled a Clairmont Road extended-stay hotel Tuesday after being caught manufacturing methamphetamine in his room.
Firefighters responding to a predawn alarm call at the Extended Stay America in the 3100 block of Clairmont Road “found that the fire alarm was going off in Room 120,” Chamblee police Capt. Ernesto Ford said.
Ford said that as firefighters approached the room, a man later identified by police as Phillip Carmona came out holding a bag, and they saw smoke coming from the room.
“They confront him, ask him where the smoke is coming from, what he was doing in the room,” Ford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“He claimed that he was cooking,” Ford said. “Of course, that wasn’t consistent with what the fire department saw.”
Ford said the suspect became uncooperative and fled the hotel, dropping the bag in the parking lot.
When agents with the GBI and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration arrived and processed the bag, “they found that all the items inside the bag were consistent with the manufacture of meth,” Ford said.
Police also found a small amount of “already cooked” meth inside the hotel room, according to Ford.
He said warrants have been obtained charging Carmona with one count of Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act and one count of reckless conduct.
Carmona was apparently making the meth for his personal use and not for sale, Ford said.
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