Boulder — About 40 police officers and federal agents busted an Ecstasy lab this morning in south Boulder, the first lab for the hallucinogenic “love drug” authorities have seen in years.
Cmdr. Stephen Prentup, head of the Boulder County Drug Task Force, called it “a sophisticated lab, with significant amounts of precursors and significant amounts of scientific glassware.”
“It’s the first confirmed Ecstasy lab I’ve seen in the four and a half years on this job,” Prentup said. “We’ve seen lots of labs, but usually they can manufacture methamphetamine, Ecstasy and a variety of drugs.”
Officers raided the small, nondescript ranch-style house at 720 S. 46th St. at 6:20 a.m., arresting a couple who lived there.
Police identified the suspects as Debra Cerio, 41, and Carl Dubois, 29.
They are being held on suspicion of manufacturing controlled substances, along with a sentence-enhancing charge of operating a lab within 1,000 feet of a school. The property backs up to Summit Middle School.
Officers set up three tents on the asphalt in front of the house, along with washing pools to decontaminate investigators as they emerged from the house in white “moon suits,” which contained breathing apparatus.
Boulder police spokeswoman Julie Brooks said the quantity of chemicals removed from the house would be enough to make between 50,000 and 80,000 tabs of Ecstasy.
John Cohen, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, said the retail street price for ecstasy ranges between $15 and $20, which at the high end would put the lab’s output potential at $1.6 million.
Six hours after entering the house, officers were still carting out evidence, including computers, hard drives and other record-keeping materials.
Officers in the protective suits were allowed to spend only 20 minutes in the house because of the heat. As they emerged, they stepped into a wading pool where they were sprayed with decontaminate, scrubbed with soapy brushes then hosed off in a separate wading pool. Another team would then suit up and enter the 1,000-square-foot brick house in the predominately working-class neighborhood. Many of the houses there are rentals, neighbors said.
No one contacted said they knew the couple, and police said the informant was not a neighbor.
Kerry Taner, 29, who rents a house across the street, said he saw people come and go from the house but not at a volume that was noticeable.
“I’m not shocked,” he said about having an Ecstasy lab nearby. “This is Boulder; it’s CU. People like to party here.”
Police spokeswoman Brooks wasn’t shocked, either.
“Labs like these can be found almost anywhere. They can be operated by almost anyone,” Brooks said.
She emphasized the lab presented no hazardous risks to the neighbors and that there was no risk of explosion, unlike methamphetamine labs.
The DEA’s Cohen said Ecstasy is still popular in schools, even middle schools.
Brittney Chambers, a Superior schoolgirl who celebrated her 16th birthday in February 2001 by ingesting Ecstasy, fell into a week-long coma and died, the last Ecstasy death in recent memory, officers said. Boulder County Coroner John Meyer said Chambers’ body overheated and that she died from drinking too much water, a condition known as hyponatremia.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
