Charges Filed in Possible Meth Lab Explosion Inside Federal Lab

A former security officer at a federal laboratory in Gaithersburg has been charged with trying to make methamphetamine in the facility, which caused an explosion.

WTOP reports Christopher Bartley was charged in federal court Monday for the July 19 incident.

Authorities reportedly found a recipe for making methamphetamine and some of the ingredients used in the drug after an explosion July 18 on the campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg. The incident at the agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce may have been caused by a chemical reaction during the manufacture of drugs, police said.

NBC Washington reports responders found a blast shield inside a NIST building had flown about 25 feet. Montgomery County Police said pseudoephedrine, drain opener and a recipe for meth were found inside the lab.

Bartley resigned from the security force the day after the explosion.

He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt Friday morning, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

An unidentified security officer was found suffering from burns at the scene of the explosion. Authorities told WTOP that officer claims he was injured trying to re-fill a cigarette lighter.