East Bay Drug Lab Searched; 1 Arrested, 2 At Large

BRENTWOOD, CA — One person was arrested and two people were at large this week in connection with a suspected drug lab in Brentwood, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday evening.

Sheriff's detectives served a search warrant at 9:52 a.m. Tuesday at a residence in the 800 block of Shasta Daisy Drive in Brentwood, and found a DMT — Dimethyltryptamine — manufacturing laboratory. DMT is a psychedelic hallucinogen found in many plant materials and can be extracted or synthetically produced in clandestine labs.

While processing the lab in Brentwood, a county hazardous materials — hazmat— team found a possible explosive compound in three containers, sheriff's office Spokesperson Jimmy Lee said.

The Walnut Creek Police Department Bomb Squad was called out and determined the compound was TATP —Triacetone Triperoxide — a highly volatile explosive compound. The bomb squad was able to detonate two containers by moving them to another location.

However, nearby residents were evacuated because the third container had to be detonated on the spot, Lee said.

All three containers were ultimately detonated without incident, Lee said.

In addition to the bomb squad from Walnut Creek, the sheriff's office also received help with the investigation and the incident from the Brentwood Police Department, Con Fire, the FBI, AMR, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program.

A parolee at large, 29-year-old Jonathan McCarthy, was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding warrant and booked into the county jail in Martinez.

Two others, Maxwell Hayworth, 44, of Brentwood, and Danielle Kumerow, 42, of Brentwood, remained at large Thursday.

"Both are wanted for burglary, narcotics violations, possession of an explosive device, and child endangerment," Lee said.

The investigation was ongoing; the sheriff's office asked anyone with any information about the incident or the suspects' whereabouts to contact the Investigation Division at 925-313-2600, send a tip to tips@so.cccounty.us or leave an anonymous voice message by calling 866- 846-3592.