A 32-year-old man was behind bars Thursday on suspicion of extracting a chemical from marijuana leaves in a process that led to an explosion in Anaheim in January.
Frederic John Mercado Tabora of Huntington Beach was arrested Wednesday night as he left a Motel 6 in Westminster, according to Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.
His arrest stems from a so-called Butane Honey Oil lab explosion Jan. 20 that set fire to a garage in the 2000 block of West Blue Violet Court, Wyatt said.
While serving a search warrant on the suspect’s residence investigators discovered another Butane Honey Oil lab, Wyatt alleged.
Tabora was being held on $75,000 bail, Wyatt said.
Tabor is accused of using a condo attached to the garage for an indoor marijuana grow house, Wyatt said. The residence was also a “sophisticated” extraction site for Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is more commonly known as Butane Honey Oil extraction, Wyatt said.
The damage from the fire was estimated to be more than $450,000, Wyatt said.
Tabora was booked on suspicion of a felony count of unlawfully causing a fire, two felony counts of unlawful chemical extraction and he faces a felony enhancement of doing so within 300 feet of an occupied residence.
–City News Service