The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said April 4 three people were charged following the discovery of a methamphetamine lab on Verona Island, a small town of 550 residents next to Bucksport.

Drugs agents arrested 27 year old Craig Kneeland, of Verona Island, for Class A Aggravated Operation of the Methamphetamine Laboratory and Violation of Conditions of Release.  Jami Cass, 28, of Verona Island, and Chandler Levesque, 22, of Bucksport, were also charged with Class D Endangering the Welfare of a Child as a result of the investigation.

Agents with MDEA's Downeast Regional Drug Task Force received information Tuesday that Kneeland had allegedly been making methamphetamine at his Bridges Road mobile home on Verona Island, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Agents learned that the mobile home that Kneeland lived in had been the scene of a fire, although the fire department was never called. The making of meth can be highly flammable. Kneeland shared his residence with Cass and Levesque, who are the parents of a five-year-old child, who also lived there.

Early Tuesday afternoon, agents located Kneeland leaving a local hardware store after they said he bought muriatic acid and lithium batteries, both ingredients used to make meth.  Agents then took Kneeland back to his home, which was searched.   Agents found methamphetamine, as well as items and ingredients consistent with the making of meth and a loaded .357 handgun, Maine’s Office of Public Safety said, in a news release.

Agents requested the response of the MDEA Lab Team and the team found 33 plastic bottles that had been used to make Methamphetamine.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services responded to the home and the child has been provided with alternative living arrangements.  Assisting with the investigation and HazMat response were the Bucksport Police Department, Bucksport Fire Department, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, State Fire Marshal's Office and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). 

Kneeland also had five outstanding warrants for his arrest for crimes ranging from Operating Under Suspension to Possession of Methamphetamine to Trafficking in Prison Contraband.