Sheriff seizes drug lab, pipe bomb

GROVETON – Drugs, guns and an active pipe bomb were seized Sept. 14 after Trinity County sheriff’s officers raided an Apple Springs residence.
Joshua Alan Howell, 24, of Apple Springs was charged with the manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, possession of an alligator without game tags and possession of non-game bird parts.
Howell was being held in the Trinity County Jail under bonds totaling $200,000.
Federal charges also were pending in connection with the pipe bomb found at the residence.
According to Sheriff Ralph Montemayor, officers went to the residence on J.T. Jordan Road and discovered components and chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamines.
Officers also found marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
The pipe bomb, which has been built using a previously inert hand grenade, is believed to have been used as a booby trap to protect the drug lab, Montemayor said.
“When we discovered the bomb, we immediately called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They sent a bomb disposal team out of Houston to handle the device,” the sheriff said.
The game-related charges were filed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and stem from an alligator head and talons from birds of prey found at the residence.
The sheriff said the investigation indicates the alligator had once been used as a live guard animal for the drug lab.
“He had a harness for the alligator and it appears that at one time he had it attached to a line in the back yard that allowed the alligator to move back and forth,” he said.