Bizarre bomb request leads to meth lab

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL, FOX 35) - An incident that began with a man looking for bomb making materials at a pool supply store last week ended with the discovery of a meth lab at the man’s home.

According to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s department the bizarre sequence of events began to unravel when a man indentified as Sergiy Matirniy told swimming pool supply store employees he wanted to buy chemicals, possibly to make bomb.

The man then asked to buy chemicals to make chloroform and when the store's owner refused, Matirniy said he was a "homemade chemist" and began talking about "September 11th" and making bombs from acid.

After Matirniy left the store empty-handed, the store's owner called 911. A deputy responded to the store and found Matirniy sitting in his car. According to deputies, the interior was loaded with wires, switch boxes and other strange items.

Matirniy at first refused the deputy's order to get out of the car but eventually complied and was taken into custody.

Based on the suspect’ ramblings, detectives believed the man’s home might contain explosives and obtained a search warrant to look for explosives at the home.

Instead of finding explosives however, they found a methamphetamine lab and evacuated neighboring homes, then called the DEA for assistance. DEA technicians arrived around 9:30 p.m., determined the home presented no immediate danger and secured the home.

They returned the following morning to remove the meth lab from the home.