This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A former Brigham Young University student who was accused of operating a methamphetamine lab in 2014 was arrested Friday in Salt Lake City for the same crime.
Bryce Cazier, 22, was booked into the Salt Lake County jail on Friday on suspicion of first-degree felony operation of a clandestine lab.
Cazier's roommate called the fire department Friday morning because she smelled a strong chemical odor, according to a probable cause statement filed with the jail.
Responding fire crews found "several elements of a clandestine lab," the jail statement says, and DEA agents subsequently searched the home and found a lab. Cazier allegedly admitted to the police that he was operating a meth lab.
Cazier's neighbor told The Tribune that a half-dozen police cars, fire crews and the Utah Department of Health were all present during the 5 a.m. search of a home near 1900 E. Hillcrest Avenue (2520 South.)
In November 2014, Cazier was charged with the same crime in Provo's 4th District Court after he accidentally started a fire in his room — located in an apartment which houses students across the street from the BYU campus — and his roommates noticed "suspicious circumstances" inside when they helped put out the blaze, 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," according to court documents.
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 meth.
Cazier's attorney, Jere Reneer, has said that Cazier was a BYU freshman when he was arrested. The defense attorney said shortly after Cazier's arrest that his client was making soap, but eventually said Cazier also was experimenting with making drugs.
"He was making soap," Reneer said in January 2015. "He was also making the extracts from the different oils … He also had some naughty stuff in there. It was just a chemistry experiment … He just had the stuff there, and you can't do that. He knew that before he did it and he knows it more so now."
In that case, Cazier pleaded guilty to second-degree felony possession of a precursor to a clandestine lab, a charge that was reduced as part of a plea deal. A Utah County judge ultimately suspended a prison sentence and sentenced Cazier to 60 days in jail as part of a 36-month probation.
Twitter: @jm_miller