Mobile meth lab discovered in car at Hiawatha convenience store

HIAWATHA, Iowa - The Hiawatha Police Department discovered a mobile meth lab after a traffic stop Monday afternoon.

Chief Dennis Marks said an officer made a traffic stop at 2:30 p.m. when the driver, 29-year-old Cedar Rapids man Chase R. Gift, was determined to have a suspended license. Gift was stopped in the Road Ranger parking lot on Blairs Ferry Road in Cedar Rapids.

After Gift was placed under arrest, a search of the vehicle was conducted and turned up what was suspected to be a mobile meth lab, Marks said.

'Sure enough, there was a mobile meth lab in there,” Marks said. 'Our guys cleaned that up. We were out there for quite a while.”

Given the volatile nature of the lab, Marks said officers exercised an 'abundance of caution” while disposing of the lab.

Gift was booked at the Linn County Jail and faces charges of manufacturing a controlled substance, driving with a suspended license, possession of a meth precursor - pseudoephedrine, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without insurance.