A Centre County man was charged on Monday after police said he manufactured crystal methamphetamine inside his Boalsburg residence.
State College police officers investigating a bicycle theft in January 2025 executed a search warrant at a home on the 700 block of Linden Hall Road, where David L. Ott, 60, was the only person on the lease and where four other people appeared to be trying to hide in the attic, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Officers observed suspected drug paraphernalia and items used in the manufacturing of crystal meth, police wrote.
The Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Response Team was called to the home and collected 13 items consistent with a “one-pot” methamphetamine lab, according to the affidavit. After the lab was removed, members of the Centre County Drug Task Force completed a search of the residence and found various paraphernalia, suspected narcotics, including methamphetamine, and additional ingredients used in making meth, police wrote.
Ott expressed an interest in assisting police with other investigations and charges were not immediately filed, according to the affidavit.
During an interview with a borough detective, Ott said there were people staying in his house who would not leave and that his residence was a “drug house,” but he did not want it to be one any longer, police wrote. He allegedly said he knew who was making meth but did not specify who and discussed providing information about people who sell the drug in the State College area.
He also described which bedroom in the home was his, which the detective noted was the same one where the meth lab was located, according to the affidavit.
In November, Centre County Probation went to Ott’s home and located two people wanted on active arrest warrants, police wrote. The Drug Task Force also responded to the residence, and Ott voluntarily allowed them to search it, according to the affidavit.
Asked by the State College detective why he had not been in contact after saying he planned to cooperate, Ott allegedly said he did not know of anyone who had meth, but later admitted two men had given it to him for free.
The search of the home yielded drug paraphernalia and substances that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Ott was charged on Monday with felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, possessing a precursor with intent to manufacture a controlled substance and operating a methamphetamine lab, along with misdemeanor counts of possessing ephedrine, possessing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was arraigned by District Judge Gregory Koehle, who set unsecured bail at $10,000.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 25.
