WYSH: Man charged after meth lab sets apartment on fire

Information from WYSH Radio

A Kingston man was arrested early Tuesday morning after his meth lab caught his bedroom apartment on fire.

Roane County deputies arrested Justin Michael Owens, 23, on five counts of reckless endangerment and one count each of manufacturing meth, tampering with evidence, and vandalism following the incident, which occurred at Smith Apartments on Kingston Highway.

According to the Sheriff’s Department incident report, the fire started when there was a “catastrophic failure” of one of the containers involved in the meth-making process.

After the fire was extinguished, deputies allegedly found several common components of meth labs and took Owens into custody. While being questioned, he told investigators that after the fire broke out, he had collected several other meth-making materials in a garbage bag and tossed them into some nearby woods.

The endangerment charges stem from the fact that a family of four, including two children, were in an adjacent apartment and a fifth resident was in another apartment in the building, all of whom “were placed at risk of severe bodily injury or death by the fire.” Those adjacent apartments were evacuated, but the residents were allowed back in after officers determined that “due to the construction characteristics of the building, combined with the heating and cooling systems and septic systems used, as well as the extent of the fire damage of the lab site, that quarantine of the entire apartment complex was not warranted.”

At last check, Owens remained in custody on bonds totaling $67,000.

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