As we reported last week, Missouri once again had the most meth lab busts of any state in the country last year -- and folks in Springfield are apparently working to make sure the state is a winner in 2013, too.
We've got the details on not one, but two, reportedly unrelated meth busts in the same hotel within a two-week span.
"Meth labs have been a problem for several years, increasingly so," Lieutenant Vance Holland tells Daily RFT. "Finding them at hotels is not uncommon."
But two in one hotel -- just two weeks apart?
Extended Stay America on East Kingsley Street in Springfield was the alleged scene of the crimes, first reported by the News-Leader last week.
Holland tells us that on January 16, investigators had "received information about a possible clandestine [meth] lab in a room."
When they went and made contact with the resident there, they discovered various remnants of an illegal lab.
See also: - Photos: Top Twelve Craziest Meth Busts In Missouri, The Meth Capital Of The U.S. - Illinois Family Accused of Running Meth Lab Is Actually Just Making Maple Syrup - Missouri Leads the Nation in Meth Labs, Jefferson County Second Highest In Country
Room 317 allegedly had gallons of muriatic acid, a pound of pure lye and packaging for hundreds of pseudoephedrine tablets.
A man named Rex Humphrey was charged and arrested.
Then on January 29, Springfield police obtained a warrant for another suspected meth lab in the hotel -- different room, but same floor.
Holland says that once again police discovered basic components of a meth lab.
"The cases aren't related," he says.
News-Leader says that, based on court documents, officers found crushed-up pseudoephedrine pills, starter fluid, gas-line antifreeze and other meth ingredients.
Brandon Hinkley was arrested on the scene and reportedly also had a large bag of meth in his pocket.
Hotels are often chosen as meth lab sites locally, Holland says.
"Sometimes the suspects are homeless and they bounce around from hotel to hotel to avoid detection," he says.
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