By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader
 

GOFFSTOWN - Two Goffstown men -- neighbors in a downtown apartment building -- were arrested Wednesday after a raid uncovered a small meth lab in their apartment building, a federal prosecutor said yesterday.

The raid took place at 3 Pleasant St., in the center of Goffstown. Neighbors said many Goffstown police, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and plain-clothes officers swooped down on their building Wednesday about noon.

Arrested were Rodney Gorospe, 41, and Joseph Gelinas, 23. They were arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, according to a statement issued by Tom Colantuono, U.S. attorney for New Hampshire.

The apartment building, a rambling three-story house with attached barn, is carved up into about eight apartments. A resident last night said neighbors were unaware of the specifics of what took place Wednesday.

"I didn't know it was a meth lab. I'm not really comfortable," said Coleen Finneral. She said residents are quiet people, and the arrest of suspected drug manufacturers is out of character for the neighborhood. Most residents, she said, know the landlord personally.

Colantuono said the two men across from each other.

Often, discoveries of meth labs have involved hazardous-material crews in respirators and protective clothing worn to allow safe removal of dangerous chemicals. Such was not the case Wednesday, Finneral said.

Colantuono said an "ongoing, stationary" lab was not found at the building. He said the meth was cooked in an apartment and chemicals were disposed of quickly.

Colantuono was uncertain whether the lab posed a danger to the building or the environment. But he said: "The DEA has a very well-worked-out protocol with the Department of Environmental Services on how to handle any meth lab. I believe that was probably followed here."

In court Thursday, Gorospe was ordered held without bail pending a preliminary hearing on Feb. 13. Gelinas waived a probable cause hearing and was released under bail conditions.

Colantuono said the investigation started early last month when Goffstown police received a tip from a hardware store about the purchase of toluene, iodine and other materials used to manufacture methamphetamine. New Hampshire Attorney Kelly Ayotte has been working to educate retail merchants about methamphetamine and the materials needed to manufacture it, Colantuono said.

The DEA joined the investigation and traced the purchase of cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine to the two, Colantuono said. Laws require pharmacies to log the purchase of medicine that contains pseudoephedrine, one of the main ingredients in methamphetamine.

"It was a textbook example of all the efforts we have been making to stop the manufacture of methamphetamine," Colantuono said.

Gorosphe was arrested in Concord and Gelinas was arrested in Goffstown, Colantuono said.

Reproduced by the Goffstown Residents Association.