METRICH investigates Madison 'shake and bake' meth lab

A METRICH drug enforcement team seized chemicals and materials used in alleged methamphetamine production Saturday morning, after receiving a tip from the Ohio Highway Patrol that a mobile meth lab might be found in the area of 84 N. Illinois Ave. METRICH detectives and Richland County sheriff's deputies responded to the scene around 8:15 a.m., took evidence for analysis or safekeeping to the Mansfield Police crime laboratory and the North Canton authorized central storage unit.

A Mansfield police report said the chemicals and equipment seized was used in a "one pot/shake and bake" type production of methamphetamine.

Dale Francis Kern, 34, whose last known address is 671 S. Woodcrest Drive, Mansfield, was arrested at that residence around 9:20 a.m. and booked into the Richland County Jail in connection with the incident.

Kern, who is unemployed, has been charged with two felony counts of illegal manufacture of drugs, with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and with a misdemeanor charge of speeding.

Woodcrest Drive runs just east of the Madison High School property. Originally published in the News Journal on September 6, 2014