Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Police make one arrest in suspected meth lab

By Shari Kaplan

Los Gatos police last week arrested one of three suspects charged with running an illicit drug lab that may have caused the July 20 explosion at Sunray Drive home.

Authorities are still seeking the man who spoke with them briefly when they arrived at the scene and then disappeared after retreating into the house. That man has been identified as Robert Harden, 32, who police believe was living in the house at the time of the incident.

Police arrested Berbig, 23, on July 20, after authorities discovered he had some outstanding warrants. Police are waiting for an arrest warrant for a third suspect, Marlene Vieira, 18. Police believe that Berbig and Vieira also lived at the house.

Harden, Berbig and Vieira are charged with the manufacture of a controlled substance, possession for sale of a controlled substance and the additional charge of cultivating marijuana.

The District Attorney's office filed the charges last week based upon statements from witnesses and observations and evidence collected by police and agents of the California Department of Justice/Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement's "clandestine lab" team.

Shortly before 7 p.m. on July 20, police dispatchers received a call reporting an explosion in the vicinity of the house at 16171 Sunray Drive. When responding officers Scott Gudehus and Sam Wonnell spoke with Harden, they noticed he appeared to have chemical burns on his face and on part of his body.

The officers reported that Harden told them a backyard barbecue had exploded on him. As Harden went back inside and closed the door behind him, the officers noticed smoke and a strong chemical odor emanating from the house. The officers said they looked around closer to the house but were soon overcome by chemical fumes and retreated.

Backup officers Leyton Howard and Bill Farina and Sgt. Kerry Harris arrived on the scene to assist Gudehus and Wonnell. The officers set up boundaries around the scene's perimeter so possible suspects could not leave the area without being noticed by an officer.

During this activity, Farina found some apparatus in a neighboring yard with a residue that later tested positive for the presence of amphetamine. When officers tried to search the house, they were overcome by fumes and had to leave, according to Miller.

All five officers required oxygen administered by firefighters from the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District and were later treated and released from the Community Hospital of Los Gatos.

Together with the California Department of Justice/Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement's lab team, Los Gatos police returned to the house and conducted a more thorough search, which Miller said turned up some evidence of the manufacture of methamphetamine.