BEDFORD - Nearly a month after their alleged motel-room meth lab exploded, three Bedford County residents were arrested Wednesday for cooking the drug and risking other guests' lives, authorities said Friday.
Police said the trio - Bradley Shroyer, 31, of Imler; Shane Mathos, 30, of Fishertown; and Summer Clark-Eckard, 24, of Bedford - rented a room Oct. 12 at the Breezewood Motel, where they allegedly combined dangerous chemicals to create methamphetamine.
About 1 a.m. on Oct. 13, the three fled the hotel, District Attorney Bill Higgins said. The volatile compounds used in meth cooking had exploded, he said.
"They saw the fire starting and they didn't know what to do, so they left," Higgins said.
The fire alarm sounded, and hotel staff and a guest extinguished the blaze before it spread from the room.
Police filed a series of felony drug charges against Shroyer, Mathos and Clark-Eckard. They also face 22 counts each of reckless endangerment for allegedly risking other hotel guests' lives.
The case is connected to last month's King Township arrests of Crystal Lynn Burket and Edward Duane Mack, who allegedly operated a mobile lab and knew the Breezewood Motel lab's operators.
More arrests are expected soon, Higgins said.
Police in Bedford County have uncovered a series of suspected labs in recent weeks, including a mobile operation that left dangerous meth by-products scattered around an Imler fire hall.
The labs are connected, all part of an operation that distributes meth throughout the county, Higgins said.
