Dartmouth chemistry student busted for running meth lab out of apartment
A Belgian graduate student at Dartmouth College had a double major - he was taking classes in chemistry and running a meth lab out of his apartment, police said.
Randy Lambreghts, 28, was busted Sunday after cops responded to a medical emergency at his Hanover, N.H. pad and found evidence the Belgian brainiac was cooking crank, police said.
Lambreghts' roommate called authorities because he feared for the Belgian's mental and physical health, Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone Jr. told the Daily News.
Campus cops rolled up to Lambreghts' pad at 3 School St., a building that houses about a dozen grad students and is on the same street as several undergraduate residences.
After spotting evidence that led cops to suspect a mini drug factory was being run out of the apartment, campus cops called the town police, who called in firefighters and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Giaccone said.
Firefighters evacuated the building and handled hazardous materials inside Lambreghts' place. Lambreghts was asked to take a shower at the apartment to decontaminate himself and then taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
After the DEA got a search warrant, a field team searched the pad, collected evidence suspected of being related to making meth, and sent it to a lab; it is still being analyzed, Giaccone said.
Lambreghts was charged Tuesday with one count of attempted manufacture of methamphetamine/amphetamine, Giaccone said. He was being held on $20,000 bail.
Lambreghts lives with two other people, but they are not expected to be charged, Giaccone added.
Lambreghts, who had been studying at the Ivy League school for about seven years, received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's in biochemistry from the University of Ghent, in Belgium, according to a Dartmouth website.
The site said he enjoys travelling and planned "to see all of South America after graduation."
Under New Hampshire law, manufacturing meth is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $300,000 fine, the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper reported.
