Second Suspect In 2014 Hash Oil Lab Blast Is Arrested

The second of two suspects facing charges in connection with an explosion at a Walnut Creek apartment building that was being used to manufacture hash oil last year has been arrested, police said late Wednesday.

• Walnut Creek Police Seek Second Suspect in 2014 Drug Lab Explosion

Walnut Creek police said William Brown, 37, was arrested on charges Contra Costa County prosecutors filed against him for the Oct. 31, 2014, explosion in the 1500 block of Sunnyvale Avenue.

The Oakland resident turned himself in, police said, after Daniel Burgess, 34, of Danville, did the same in November.

The two men are accused of manufacturing hash oil with butane that ignited and caused an explosion at about 10 a.m. This destroyed the Walnut Creek apartment, leaving the entire six-unit complex uninhabitable, police said.

Burgess and Brown were critically injured and spent up to eight months recovering in a burn center, police said.

In November, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office filed three felony charges against the men: drug manufacturing, starting a fire causing injury and starting a fire in an inhabited structure.

Both men have been booked into Martinez Detention Facility. They are being held on $700,000 bail.

-Bay City News