PHILLIPS — Four people were charged with trafficking in methamphetamine after a Franklin County detective noticed evidence inside a vehicle he stopped Monday night that was consistent with the manufacture of the drug, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols said in a news release.

Michael Patrick Halle, 45, of Phillips, Erin Lynn Smith, 42, of Ocala, Fla., Kimberly A. Webber, 25, of Vienna and Jason Fowler, 39, of Chesterville were arrested on one felony charge each, Nichols said.

Fowler also was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle after his license was suspended.

It was the 16th meth lab dismantled this year in Maine, police said. 

Franklin County Detective Ken Charles saw Fowler driving a Jeep Cherokee in Phillips at 7:18 p.m. Monday, and knowing Fowler did not have a driver’s license, Charles stopped the vehicle on Route 4 in Avon, Nichols said.

“While speaking with Fowler he observed evidence inside the vehicle consistent with the manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamine,” Nichols said.

Fowler and his passenger, Kimberly Webber, were questioned at the scene.

Agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and other deputies were called in to assist Charles.

Evidence from the traffic stop led investigators to 1495 Rangeley Road in Phillips where police saw more evidence of methamphetamine manufacturing, Nichols said.

In addition to the house in Phillips and the vehicle at the Sheriff’s Department in Farmington, a third location was searched in Chesterville where items from the manufacturing operation had been dumped, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Halle, Webber and Fowler are being held on $10,000 cash bail each at the Franklin County jail in Farmington. Smith’s bail is $1,500 cash, Nichols said.

They are expected to appear in a Farmington court on Wednesday.

dperry@sunjournal.com