Man arrested after allegedly cooking meth near his home with children inside

An Orrville man was arrested for having an active meth lab in a shed at a mobile home park, less than 15 feet from his home where there were three small children present.

According to Medway Drug Enforcement Agency Director Donald Hall, a 56-year-old man was arrested at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the park on the 500 block of North Beaver Street.

He remained in the Wayne County Jail as of Thursday and was expected to be arraigned today.

Hall said the suspect was the focus of an ongoing investigation, through intelligence gathered by Medway.

When a task force officer arrived at the man's home, the man was observed leaving a shed with a one-pot sludge bottle in his hand, according to Hall, who noted the shed was less than 15 feet away from the man's home. Inside the home were his wife and three small children, all under the age of 4 years old, whom she was baby-sitting.

Hall said she apparently ran a day care operation. Hall said she told him she had no idea her husband was cooking meth.

Hall said the man was ordered to put the bottle on the ground, which he did.

Orrville police and fire personnel arrived to assist. The fire department evacuated a number of surrounding mobile homes while the site was cleaned up.

Inside the shed, Hall said, numerous other sludge bottles and evidence of previous one-pot cooks were found and secured along with the bottle actively cooking. Hall said that bottle's cook will be completed in order to obtain the suspected meth product inside.

"This wasn't the first time he cooked based on the evidence," Hall said, adding meth is still a large problem in Wayne County.