Boulder House Explosion: 3 Arrested In Hemp Extraction Scheme

BOULDER, CO -- Three people were arrested by Boulder police as part of an investigation into a house explosion in south Boulder last month after it was determined the blast was caused by an illegal cannabis oil extraction operation in the basement of the house.

Henry William Frost V, 22, and Thomas Luecke, 58, were each charged with fourth-degree arson and endangerment. Jennifer Louise Labrecque, 52, and Luecke were charged with obstruction of justice after they allegedly tried to keep firefighters out of the house. Luecke and Labrecque were residents of the house.

The explosion happened March 15 around 8:30 p.m. in the 4600 block of Mackey Way.

Neighbors told police the explosion sounded like "what might have been a large tree falling." They complained they found glass all over their yards, according to the arrest affidavit. One neighbor saw two people run out of the house and quickly drove them to a hospital emergency room, where police said his quick thinking likely helped get medical treatment quickly. Another neighbor told police her young daughter was riding her bike in the street shortly before the explosion and might have been injured if she had been in the street a little later.

Luecke told police he had hired Frost several times over about a year to extract THC oil from hemp which he said he used for medical purposes, an arrest affidavit said. Frost told police he was homeless, but he and a female friend were staying in the house while Frost earned $15 an hour extracting hemp oil for Luecke. Frost and the friend, who was not charged, were the two whisked to a hospital by the neighbor.

Cannabis oil can be made from hemp by soaking the hemp with butane or other solvents, then removing an oily residue, which can be purified by heating the butane away via evaporation.

Frost told police he had worked extracting cannabis oils from hemp, but was not licensed to work with marijuana, the affidavit said. Frost said the extraction apparatus setup in Luck's basement was "kind of pieced together awkwardly" and that he believed a butane leak in the recovery pump which may have caused a buildup of the gas in the room, which then ignited. Frost said he had been working for five hours in the basement. Frost's female friend told police that "Tom had made them close the windows to the basement because it was raining." She told police she saw a ball of blue flames shooting at her and saw Frost covered in flames. She ran out of the house, she said. She told police she begged homeowners Leucke and Labrecque for help and asked to be taken to a hospital, and they told her to be quiet and tried to force her to return inside, which she refused.

Firefighters determined the cause of the explosion to be "a combustion explosion [that] occurred from butane vapors used in the extraction of oil from plants," the affidavit said.

After the explosion, Leucke and Labrecque allegedly told neighbors not to call 911 and tried to block fire fighters from entering the house. Neighbors said they suspected drug activity at the house and specifically told dispatchers to tell firefighters to "check the basement," the arrest affidavit said. Police restrained Leucke and Labrecque so firefighters could enter the house, the affidavit said.

Frost is in custody at Boulder County Jail with a bail of $5,000. Luecke and Labrecque were released on recognizance bonds.

Luecke and Labrecque are scheduled to appear in court April 23 and Frost's next court date is April 24.

Images: Henry Frost, Tom Leucke and Jennifer Labrecque via Boulder County Sheriff