ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A Hazmat team and St. Johns County Fire and Rescue personnel spent nearly six hours investigating a possible meth lab in the Samara Lakes community in the World Golf Village on Wednesday, and two men and a woman were arrested.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant on a home on Wynfield Circle and later called in the fire department and Hazmat teams around 3 p.m.
Jaimie Cox, 27, and Alexander Horton, 30, (both pictured below on left) were charged with manufacturing meth, possession of meth, possession of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, maintaining a drug dwelling and child neglect.
Daniel Unsell (pictured below on right), 33, was charged with manufacturing meth, possession of meth, possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The three suspects remain in jail on bonds ranging from $16,000 to $52,500.
Investigators said two children were removed from the home and are now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.
News4Jax also learned this isn't the first time investigators have been called to the home for drug-related problems.
Neighbors said this is the second time in about a year and a half that the home has been raided for housing a meth lab.
Hazmat crews could be seen removing bags of evidence and sorting through it for almost six hours.
Property records show the owner of the home is Christopher Lalonde, but he was not among those arrested.
Neighbors were furious Wednesday and said this kind of crime hits too close to home.
"There is something wrong with the system because this guy should've been kept in jail. This is the second time this has happened. This is ridiculous," Albert Graham said. "This guy needs to be put away for a long time."
Neighbors like Graham came home from work to see crime-scene tape and emergency responders two doors down on Wynfield Circle.
Hazmat crews wearing protective gear and masks quickly moved in, removing bag after bag and box after box of evidence from the home and carefully going over items at a table next to a blue Mini Cooper in the driveway.
A News4Jax crew noticed a faint chemical odor coming from near the home, but investigators have yet to say if an active lab was uncovered.
"I just couldn't believe it. And in the same house too? And when they brought those two tiny little children out. It's just heartbreaking. It really is sad," Sue Boxx said. "When they disregard those little innocent children who they brought into the world and subjected them to that, I don't feel sorry for them. It's just the children that I feel sorry for, that I've seen get taken away now. It's just really sad. I think they should serve some hard time because they need to learn a lesson."