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Original story is below:
A home on a quiet suburban street in West Orange served as a major drug-production facility where authorities found more than 4,000 grams of methamphetamine, Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said Tuesday.
Authorities had been investigating for months prior to the raid Monday night, when neighbors saw SWAT and Essex County HazMat personnel encircling 1 Lorelei Road.
The sheriff's office spearheaded an investigation that also involved police from West Orange, Newark, Bloomfield and Irvington.
“Our officers entered the premises and found the target of our investigation, Brian Chedahackembruch, 23, in his bedroom,” Fontoura said.
“During a thorough search of the house, our detectives recovered 4,450 grams of methamphetamine in both liquid and crystal form, 96 ounces of gamma butyrolactone, a chemical that is used to convert one drug into another, 74 grams of marijuana, a wide assortment of narcotics paraphernalia, including butane torches, digital scales and plastic funnels, $3,840 in cash, four BB guns, a video surveillance system and bank deposit receipts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Chedahackembruch was hospitalized after complaining of discomfort from a medical condition. He was at University Hospital Tuesday.
He has been charged with possession, possession with intent to distribute, maintaining a drug-production facility, maintaining a fortified drug premises, weapons charges and other offenses.
A second man who lives at the home, 39-year-old Eduardo Martinez, has also been charged but remains at large.
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