Meth lab found inside foreclosed Ocoee home

OCOEE, Fla. — Foreclosures already have a tough impact on neighborhoods around central Florida, but WFTV's Jeff Deal found out one foreclosure was particularly bad for the Silver Glen neighborhood in Ocoee.

Investigators found a full meth lab hiding inside and neighbors said they saw investigators in masks pulling all kinds of equipment from the home.

The outside of the home is a mess. The front door is ripped off the hinges, and through the window WFTV spotted all kinds of junk inside.

The Silver Glen community is a well-kept neighborhood with big homes.

"It's a good neighborhood and I don't know, (it) just turned bad," said resident Lascelles Mundle.

Mundle said things turned bad because of one house that happens to be right next door.

Monday neighbors reported a burglary in progress at the home they said had been empty for a few weeks. When Ocoee police arrived, they found two men, John and Joseph Stone, inside and they found meth.

Investigators obtained a warrant and the Orange County Sheriff's clandestine lab response team found chemicals, jars, tubing and pseudoephedrine, which are all used to make meth.

Investigators said the home is in foreclosure.

"I really don't know what's going on there because there's different people that come in and out all the time," said neighbor Mohammed Ali.

Even though neighbors didn't like the idea of seeing the home falling apart in foreclosure, they never expected anyone would move in and build a meth lab in a neighborhood like this.

"There were guys with masks out there the other night. Big bags of stuff they'd taken out from there," said Ali.

There are 75 homes in foreclosure in Ocoee. In August WFTV reported there were 1,800 foreclosures in Orange County.

To check foreclosures near you, click here.

WFTV