Boone Today, IA
02/09/06
Potentially dangerous chemical stolen in
Pilot Mound
By:CORY FROLIK
Late Sunday, about 40 gallons of sodium hypochlorite were stolen from the
former Pilot Mount fire station, now used for storage.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, Deputy Brian Pontius received a call.
Someone had broken into the unused fire station in Pilot Mound.
The fire station, located in downtown Pilot Mound, has not been functional for a
number of years. It currently serves as a storage unit.
According to a witness, a van pulled up and three men dressed in dark clothing
piled out. The identity of the witness has not been released.
The three men worked together to remove eight containers from the fire house.
Each of the containers held five gallons of the chemical sodium hypochlorite.
Sodium hypochlorite is used for water treatment. Its more common name is
bleach.
The men loaded the containers into their van and took off. The witness at the
scene called Jay Williams, the mayor of Pilot Mound, who immediately contacted
law enforcement authorities. Because of the delay between the call to the mayor
by the witness and the call to the authorities by the mayor, nearly a half hour
elapsed before Deputy Pontius arrived at the scene.
Sheriff Ron Fehr and his department believe that the chemicals were taken
because the responsible parties incorrectly believed that the ingredients can be
useful in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.
"It wouldn't be the right chemical to turn your ephedrine into methamphetamine,"
Fehr said. "[But] whoever stole it may think it does."
Although bleach is not useful in the production of meth, the bleach poses a
potential danger.
"The big problem is that if you had inadvertently mixed it with another type of
chemical it would become a poisonous gas," Fehr said.
Sodium hypochlorite can be turned into chlorine gas, says Jacob Petrich,
professor of chemistry at Iowa State University. But they would first need a
way of liberating the chlorine.
The sheriff's office chose not to comment on what mixture of chemicals could
create the poisonous gas - Fehr and staff do not want to give anyone any ideas.
But they have contacted the appropriate authorities about the potential
dangerous application of the missing substance and have been told to proceed
with their investigation.
The investigation is ongoing. But there is serious speculation that the culprits had
inside details about the storage center.
"We're assuming that the individuals knew that the items were there because it is
not a common place to store those items," Fehr said.
If you have any information about the burglary, please contact the Boone County
Sheriff's Office at 433-0524.
Cory Frolik can be reached at cfrolik@newsrepublican.com.