This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A BYU student has turned himself in after police accused him of operating a methamphetamine laboratory — though his attorney says he was using the equipment and chemicals to make herbal extracts and soap.
Bryce Cazier, 21, was booked Wednesday into Utah County Jail, two days after he was charged in 4th District Court with operation of a clandestine laboratory, a first-degree felony.
"This whole 'Breaking Bad' on the lam aspect is patently false," his attorney Jere Reneer said Wednesday. The herbal extract process is similar to — if not exactly — like the one used to cook meth, Reneer noted.
On Nov. 6, Cazier accidentally started a small fire in his room — located in an apartment which houses students across the street from Brigham Young University — and his roommates noticed "suspicious circumstances" inside when they helped put it out, according to the court documents.
The next day, the roommates picked the lock on Cazier's room while he was out and found chemicals, tubing and other "items of concern," the court documents add.
Police called in the Drug Enforcement Administration, and agents found empty blister packets of pseudoephedrine, acetone, lithium, drain cleaner, lighter fluid, tubing, filters, a blender with a white powdery substance and digital scales, among other items, in the man's room. The agents told police that the lab was capable of making methamphetamine.
Numerous "unknown liquids and powders were sampled to be tested," according to the court documents.
Provo Police Lt. Brandon Post declined to comment about field-test results for the white powdery substance, but asserted: "It is not a soap-making operation."
Reneer pointed out that Cazier's roommates knew he made soap, and that he had been visiting a friend in Salt Lake City when the roommates went into his room.
Cazier is a freshman at BYU, and recently finished a mission to Wisconsin for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Reneer said.
He is being held at the Utah County jail on $50,000 bail. If convicted as charged, he could face up to life in prison.
No court dates have been set.
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