Meth Lab Discovered In Evansville Attorney's Office

Evansville police raided the law office of Evansville attorney Brad Happe, who had a previous drug-related arrest, and discovered a meth lab. The Evansville Courier Press' Gavin Lesnick reports:

Police said they discovered a meth lab Thursday night in the law office of an Evansville attorney who recently was sentenced to treatment for an earlier drug-related offense.

Brad Happe, 30, is facing preliminary charges of dealing meth-amphetamine and possession of precursors after police raided his law office and reportedly found materials used to make methamphetamine inside.

Happe was arrested on a traffic stop about 6 p.m. after officers with the Evansville-Vanderburgh Joint Drug Task Force saw him leaving his office at 4619 New Harmony Road, which also is his home.

Detectives already were in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the office, said Sgt. Kurt Althoff of the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department.

Happe was taken to the Sheriff's Department, where he reportedly told detectives there was nothing dangerous inside his residence and office. He told a sergeant that he would not comment any further, Althoff said.

Officers started the search about three hours later, reportedly discovering a number of items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine inside the office and more materials in an adjacent, vacant apartment.

Police confiscated suspected anhydrous ammonia, pseudoephedrine tablets, lithium batteries, sulfuric acid and other items commonly associated with manufacturing meth, Althoff said. This arrest comes a little more than a month after Happe was sentenced on a misdemeanor charge after an arrest for visiting a common nuisance.

In that April 2006 incident police, found him outside a home where a meth lab was discovered.