Meth lab in home yields 'hospital room'

[Kadie]

Meth lab in home yields 'hospital room'
Diana Walsh, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 9, 2006


(05-09) 13:40 PDT EAST PALO ALTO - A home where police found a "super" drug lab last week also housed an elaborate hospital-like operation -- stocked with thousands of dollars in medical equipment, surgical tools and supplies -- that authorities believe was to be used to treat injured criminals.

The top floor of the Runnymede Street home was filled with "boxes upon boxes upon boxes" of medical supplies and contained a room equipped with a hospital bed, fresh linens, scalpels, IV stands and surgical tools, according to Lt. Tom Alipio of the East Palo Alto police department.

"It was set up just like a hospital room,'' said Alipio, who said a second room was in the process of being set up. "We found a kit that a surgeon would use to reassemble a joint -- like a hip or a shoulder."

The room also contained hospital gowns for patients, surgical scrubs and baby carriers for infants -- but apparently no medicines routinely used during surgical procedures.

The owner of the home, Benjamin C. Ruezga, was among six men police arrested in the raid where they found a fortified lab with five pounds of methamphetamine and nearly 70,000 cold tablets that contain the key ingredient for making methamphetamines.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/09/MNGU3IOF2P19.DTL

[greenisin]

1. Got to protect the medical cartel!

You want to make sure that the common man can't get the care they need. Of course all of us would rather go to a real doctor, but for some of us due to costs or the war on drugs, that isn't always possible.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Sounds more to me...

like somebody just stole a bunch of hospital equipment.

[woo me with science]

3. It sounds like it was set up, though.

Not just stuff thrown in there, but the bed made and equipment actually set up to create a functional hospital room.

I imagine if you are involved in dangerous criminal activity involving multiple people, it would make sense to have a place where injuries can be treated without bringing it to the attention of authorities.