A Galloway Township man previously released on drug charges is now accused of running a meth lab out of a Stafford Township home.
Police were called to the property on Grays Road in the township’s Warren Grove section at about 5 p.m. Sunday for a report of suspicious activity, according to the report.
They found John B. Sharpe, 37,
After a preliminary investigation indicated methamphetamine was possibly being manufactured on the property, the Stafford Township Police Department’s Drug Enforcement Unit, the Ocean County Narcotic’s Strike Force Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office detectives were called along with the Ocean County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit.
That led to calling the Hazmat Team out of Berkeley Township, the Warren Grove Fire Department Station 38, Stafford EMS Squad 38, additional arson units and an increased presence of uniformed patrol officers, police said.
Detectives searched the home once the scene was deemed secure and not hazardous, and found all types of controlled dangerous substances belonging to Sharpe, according to the report.
Multiple types of unidentified pills were also recovered. Additional charges are pending analysis at a lab, police said.
Sharpe already had been arrested on a warrant out of Galloway Township.
It’s not the first time Sharpe was allegedly using a home to manufacture drugs.
At that time, detectives seized about 18 grams of meth and two grams of heroin, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer previously reported.
His address then was listed as Little Egg.
Sharpe was released on a summons under bail reform, the Prosecutor’s Office said at the time.
He is now in the Ocean County Jail on third-degree charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession with the intent to distribute and possession of heroin, along with possession of drug paraphernalia including numerous digital scales and plastic baggies, and possession of numerous hypodermic syringes for drug use.
He has a previous conviction for heroin possession from 2011, court records show. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail in that case.
This investigation began on Sunday evening and led into the early morning hours the following day, police said.
Stafford Township police thanked all responding agencies and units for coming together in the joint effort.
