North Reading Men Wanted After Fire Leads to Ecstasy-Making Operation

Police are seeking two North Reading men allegedly involved in drug manufacturing at the site of last week's house fire, North Reading Police Chief Michael P. Murphy said.

Warrants have been issued for Lowell Navarro, 28, and Jacob Stanish, 31. They have been charged with unlawful manufacturing of a Class B Controlled Substance (MDMA) and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

MDMA is also known as ecstasy.

North Reading Police and Fire responded to a house fire at 6 Travelled Way last Tuesday just before midnight. The structure was engulfed and a strange odor and thick black smoke were coming from the house, police said.

Officers and firefighters figured it was possibly the home to a drug manufacturing operation, so they called for a Haz-Mat team and the DEA's Clandestine Drug Lap Response Team.

Responders knocked down the flames and a search warrant was obtained. Investigators found a "hidden, unfinished room with a venting system and glass laboratory case," police said. Police also said they found chemicals and other evidence related to an drug manufacturing operation for ecstasy.

"This was an extremely dangerous situation, in which a drug lab was operating in a residential neighborhood with houses stacked closely to one another," Murphy said. "We are very fortunate that no one was injured or killed."

Murphy encouraged parents to talk to their kids about drugs like ecstasy.

"Unfortunately, there’s a demand for drugs like Ecstasy," he said. "If people knew the noxious chemicals that went into drugs like ecstasy and some other synthetic drugs, they would think twice before using it. The home in question was full of deadly, burning chemicals that presented an extremely dangerous situation for first responders and neighbors."

Photo courtesy of North Reading Police