ST. JOHNS COUNTY – St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a mobile meth lab in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart on US1 Saturday afternoon.
Deputies were summoned due to a shoplifting incident and upon stopping the suspect they discovered a small meth lab in his car, according to authorities.
Investigators said Jason Edward Faircloth was arrested. He's facing charges for possession of meth, possession of drug equipment and larceny. He's being held on no bond.
Many shoppers said seeing something like this definitely wasn’t what they expected six days before Christmas.
“The way the world's going right now, it don't surprise me,” said Jappie Bray, a shopper at Wal-Mart. “But it's a shame that it's this way because when I grew up, you didn't care about the stuff but now it's all the time.”
The suspect is being decontaminated prior to being transported to the Jail. The suspect's vehicle was found to contain over $1,700 in stolen items and the bucket which contained the active meth "cook".
The vehicle and all of its contents will be towed and stored until it can be decontaminated by the legal owner, who are not the actual suspects.
The four SJSO deputies who opened the bucket while conducting the inventory on the stolen items were taken to an area hospital for precautionary evaluations, due to exposure. They have since been released.