A secret room in an Ellabell home contained evidence of drug manufacturing, leading to the arrest of the tenant Tuesday on methamphetamine charges.
    Bulloch County Drug Suppression Team agents found the hidden room and seized components of a meth lab, Bulloch County sheriff’s Investigator Capt. Rick Rountree said.
    An anonymous tip led drug suppression team members to the Broomstraw Trace home Tuesday, where they discovered the hidden room used for making methamphetamine, he said.
    David Leroy Deal, 61, who lives in the home, was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine after investigators found several items and ingredients used in making the drug, Rountree said.
    Deal had built the hidden room in the home by constructing a false wall around a closet, he said. Rountree discovered the clandestine room after sensing that “something wasn’t right.” When he checked, he noticed the false wall.
    “You had to push on the wall a certain way” to enter the closet, which was where the meth lab components were found, he said.
    Investigators seized a “salt generator,” which is a two-liter soda bottle with tubing used to create hydrochloric gases in manufacturing methamphetamine, he said.
    Other ingredients for making the drug, including camp fuel, were found in the home, Rountree said.
    Investigators also found an enclosed utility trailer believed to be stolen, he said.
    Deal and a second suspect were arrested at the scene, but the other man was released without being charged, Rountree said.
    Deal was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and taken to the Bulloch County Jail, where he awaits further court hearings.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.