The Sonoma man arrested in connection to a downtown methamphetamine lab, thought to be the first ever found within city limits, remains in jail on $103,000 bail.
Kevin Haywood, 44, was arrested Thursday after an afternoon search of 579 First St. East. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, Jan. 18.
Authorities said the lab was not operational. “It was a very crude,” said Sonoma Police Sgt. Spencer Crum. “There was no heat source; nothing was cooking, nothing was bubbling.”
No processed or packaged meth was found, said Crum. The lab was unsophisticated and looked to be at the experimental stage, he said.
The lab was disabled and the house cleared of chemicals by a Department of Justice drug team.
“The area is safe,” Crum said. Had there been toxic fumes or any danger of explosion, the neighborhood would have been evacuated, he said.
The illegal materials were discovered in the back living quarters of the home, a stately, tree-fronted bungalow. It was built in 1847 and is a registered California state landmark.
The unassuming structure sits less than a block from the Plaza. A church and two schools are nearby.
It is owned by Haywood’s mother. She has been out of town since the holidays, police said. It is likely that Kevin Haywood, who was known previously to reside on Hyde Road, moved into the house at that time.
Haywood, the son of wine Peter Haywood, is well known to police. He has been arrested 12 times since 2004 on charges including theft, vandalism and resisting arrest.
Currently on probation, he was stopped by police when walking along the Plaza about noon on Thursday. Terms of the probation allowed the search of his current residence.
Police said Haywood, who had an unlit marijuana joint in his hand when contacted, was at first uncooperative, but ultimately gave them his First Street address.
As part of an investigation of a string of restaurant burglaries, Sonoma Police are actively contacting and interviewing all persons on probation.
As a name on that list, Haywood “was on our radar,” Crum said.
Complicating the search were four dogs on the premises. Haywood had three pit bulls and was caring for a friend’s mastiff. All four were deemed by authorities to be dangerous and, with the aid of pepper spray, were removed by animal control officers.
In another twist, the dog-owning friend turned up at the house during the police activity. He was recognized as a suspect in a December shoplifting incident, and arrested.
The now-dismantled meth lab is thought to be the first to be found within Sonoma city limits.
Reading this makes me wonder how Innocent, Unsuspecting or just Ignorant Sonoma Residents really are. I managed a business for a few years and I couldn’t keep count, the number of rolling Meth Labs I encountered. The residents of Sonoma who cooked this stuff was astonishing at that time (about10 years ago) but now if you just watch you’ll find it in many well maintained homes, Businesses and right in our own backyards.
We live in a Social Community and in these economic times people are trying to pay their bills and keep their family’s heads dry.
Sonoma residents need to pay attention to an old joke about Sonoma called A Ma Nos or Oh my Nose. Within the tight groups of the growers area also the tweaker’s bakers and smokers who do additional businesses in our community. If you watch and wonder why there is so much midnight and mid day traffic at a neighborhood house, you won’t have to use your imagination very well… then if you think I am wrong, look at the neighborhood which this lab was suspected as being in.
Marijuana grow houses and City Police, Marijuana Dispensaries continuously probing Sonoma Valley, Head shops and now Meth Labs. Its all related. All BAD for Sonoma Valley.
Keep busting them up and reporting truths until they get the message we DO NOT WANT THEM in our Valley!
I am so sad to read this. I knew Kevin when he was young and I worked at his dad’s winery. Kevin was a jewel, a sweet young man who I adored. People lose their way sometimes in life. This was awhile ago, I hope is O.K now.