Two arrested for Cathedral City drug lab fire
Two Cathedral City residents have been arrested in connection to last week’s house fire that left an elderly woman & her five dogs homeless.
When firefighters tried to tackle a fire on Aurora Vista Road in Cathedral City last Thursday, Battalion Chief Robert Allison said they dodged explosions coming from inside the duplex. They found more than 100 butane canisters, including a half dozen that had shot at least 15 feet across a room, and stuck halfway into the drywall.
Read: Elderly woman & five dogs rescued from Cathedral City fire
“It’s definitely dangerous for the firefighters and the neighbors,” said Allison.
Early on, firefighters determined the butane was part of a “honey oil” lab operating inside the kitchen/dining room area.
“There was illegal marijuana processing happening in this home,” explained Allison. “It looked like a distillery.” Equipment used to make hash oil was found in the home, including pressure cookers, numerous bags of marijuana, and dozens of refillable butane canisters.
A criminal investigation started right away, and Wednesday evening Cathedral City police Commander Paul Herrera confirmed two people were taken into custody in connection with the fire.
23-year-old Devin Dean Robertson-Goering and 24-year-old Jennifer Alexandra Santos were arrested on Sunday morning in Cathedral City, then cite-released with a misdemeanor health and safety charge of providing a place for the manufacture of an illegal drug.
Herrera said more charges were forthcoming and that the investigation is ongoing.
Santos and Goering lived inside the duplex that burned.
Read: Take an inside look at the business of hash oil
“This is the first time in Cathedral city where an illegal marijuana processing lab was the genesis of a fire,” said Allison. “You could easily have a fire extend into multiple units. People lose all their belongings, they get burnt or killed.”
An elderly woman living in the adjacent duplex was helped out by her neighbors. They also helped rescue her five puppies.
