Six people - including a mother, a father and their two children - were arrested in a bust at a clandestine drug lab in an $800,000 home in Westford, Massachusetts, on Wednesday morning.
The bust at 2 Mountain View Lane followed months of Drug Enforcement Administration investigation. The 3,800-square-foot home is located in an upscale neighborhood and is assessed at $778,300.
Bradley Heath Jr., 22, is accused of running a drug lab out of the basement of his parents' sprawling home.
Heath; his sister, 28-year-old Linley Heath; their father, 63-year-old Bradley Heath Sr. and their mother, Diana Heath, all of 2 Mountain View Lane, were arrested.
Lindsey Holston, the 20-year-old girlfriend of Bradley Heath Jr., and his friend, 22-year-old Prachi Joglekar, were also arrested.
The family's attorney told necn that this was a big misunderstanding.
"The mom, dad and the daughter had nothing to do with it. There's absolutely no evidence," said Jeff Higgins.
Higgins says Bradley Heath Jr. has a prescription for medical marijuana, and that his parents had no idea this was happening inside the home.
Westford Police said they found marijuana, ovens, devices and hash oils in the basement of the home.
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"Upon entering the house Officers found it obvious from the smell there was a cooking lab in the house," Westford Police Capt. Victor Neal said. "A search of the house revealed an active clandestine lab with Butane Honey oil/Hashish oil located in the basement."
Because of the dangerous nature of the lab, hazmat crews and a Massachusetts State Police bomb squad were called in to secure the area to make it safe to collect evidence.
What was found, authorities say, was valued at more than $30,000.
The investigation remains underway and police said additional arrests may be made.
Hash oil explosions and fires have been a growing concern in New England in recent years. According to the DEA, there were 10 suspected hash oil incidents in New England last year - a nine-fold increase from 2014.
A renter's home cook operation was blamed for a blast that sent three people to the hospital and destroyed a historic home in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, in 2014. In Rhode Island, one man died and another was severely burned in South Kingstown last year. And a 5-alarm fire in a clandestine lab swallowed a warehouse in Providence.