3 Suspected of Producing Drug in Residential Garage

BURBANK — Three people were arrested in a quiet, upscale Burbank neighborhood on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine in a garage laboratory behind a home, police said Thursday.

Police identified the suspects as Lance Ryder, 32, Jack Harrington, 36, and Regina Richards, 35.

Ryder lives at the home in the 400 block of South Orchard Street owned by his elderly grandmother, and Harrington and Richards often stayed there while they cooked up about $15,000 worth of methamphetamine a week, said Burbank Police Lt. Robert Giles.

Richards gave her official residence as Covina and Harrington listed himself as a transient, police said.

The three were arrested Wednesday night, Giles said. No methamphetamine was found at the house but the chemicals needed to concoct the drug were present in the garage, he added.

“They were in the process of manufacturing it,” Giles said. Police said the suspects were producing half a pound of the drug a week.

About a dozen neighbors were evacuated from their homes for four hours while a Fire Department hazardous-materials unit cleaned up the highly flammable chemicals, because “we wanted to make sure there were no explosions,” Giles said.

Investigators believe the lab has been there for about a year.

The suspects were being held at Burbank City Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, Giles said.