VEAZIE – The owner of the State Street residence that was raided Thursday by drug agents said she was “totally floored” that a methamphetamine lab was found inside the two-unit apartment on State Street.

A 17-year-old male who lives in the first-floor apartment with his mother was taken into custody and is being held at Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston for violating his probation while police continue their investigation.

The juvenile’s identity isn’t being released because of his age, but he has an extensive criminal history. His mother has not been charged in connection with the lab.

When the mother and son moved into Avis Black’s apartment at 1237 State St., Black said, they had good references from mutual acquaintances.

“She’s a [certified nurse’s aide] and she does home health,” Black said Friday in a phone interview. “She had good references, said she was a widow and her son went to Orono High School. I didn’t suspect anything, I take people at their word.”

The mother never said anything to Black about her son having a criminal record.

After they had been living in the apartment for a few months, Black heard that the son wasn’t attending school and that he was dealing drugs out of the apartment.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s all I need,'” Black said. “But as long as he stayed out of trouble, what could I do about it?”

She had spoken with the police a few times about the young man, but it wasn’t until Thursday that she learned just how serious the situation was.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Roy McKinney said Maine’s meth problem is small compared with the rest of the country.

Thursday’s raid was the first meth lab ever found in Veazie, and the first in Maine this year.

“Maine’s numbers are small, small, small compared to some of the Midwest states that have several thousand lab incidents,” McKinney said Friday.

Of the people charged in Maine incidents to date, there have been no allegations of a juvenile actually producing methamphetamines.

“We’ve had juveniles, minor children, present in these labs’ incidents, but have not had a juvenile in this situation in this particular scenario,” McKinney said.

The state health and environmental testing lab is testing evidence collected Thursday to determine exactly what was being produced at the apartment.

“Off and on I’ve had problems with tenants, but not like this. I usually have good tenants,” Black said. “This took the cake.”

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