A discarded meth lab found on Chocowinity Middle School property had deputies roping off the area and calling in the SBI for a second time in three days.

Around 5 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Drug Unit located a meth lab dump site next to a ditch, within yards of the cheerleading building and school district storage building.

The meth lab dump will likely be added to the list of charges against Thomas James Hardee, of Walhurst Avenue, Chocowinity, who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly producing methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school.

According to Capt. Russell Davenport, head of the drug unit, Hardee refused to cooperate with the investigation, so they went around him — using the hours of surveillance and contacts made during the investigation to ferret out potential dump sites for the meth labs.

Investigators found two: the first, lying in the grass beside a driveway on the CMS campus; the second, in an area off of U.S. Highway 17 and N.C. Highway 102.

Hardee rented a house about 300 feet away from where the meth lab was found on the campus. The meth lab looked like a regular piece of roadside trash — a 20 oz. clear plastic bottle — but in fact held caustic chemicals that could easily explode: ammonium nitrate, lithium and some type of fuel.

“That’s what’s so dangerous about it. What if a kid walked over there and picked it up?” asked Davenport. “It’s very, very dangerous. That’s why we’re working as hard as we can.”

Methamphetamine is cooked up using a variety of volatile ingredients that sometimes result in fatal explosions for those doing the meth cooking.

“This is a serious crime,” Davenport said, adding that the District Attorney’s office is on board with ridding the county of a budding meth problem by seeking the maximum penalty for those in the business of producing meth. Beaufort County has seen a rise in meth production and use in the last 8 months — now the drug unit is averaging one meth bust a month, according to Davenport.

Davenport said Hardee’s bond was reduced, though he is still incarcerated in the Beaufort County Detention Center. The sheriff’s office is looking at new charges against Hardee.

At the time of this posting, calls to school officials had not been returned.