A routine traffic stop turned into a large-scale law enforcement matter Thursday night when a state trooper discovered what is believed to have been an operating mobile methamphetamine laboratory.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Trooper Patrick Hodgkiss observed a southbound 2001 Ford Windstar that failed to slow its speed by 20 miles per hour when the minivan passed another state trooper who had stopped a different motorist.

The location of the first traffic stop was just north of Lampasas Cattle Auction on U.S. Highway 183.

A short time later, Hodgkiss stopped the driver of the Windstar, Donald Ray Riggs, 28, of Lampasas, in the parking lot of the Hacienda Apartments, just north of the Lampasas city limits.

In the course of the traffic stop, Hodgkiss discovered a suspected mobile meth lab. “It was operating,” Hodgkiss told the Lampasas Dispatch Record. “It was brewing and bubbling.”

The Lampasas Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was summoned, and several members of the unit were on the scene within minutes, the trooper said.

He credited the “haz mat” team with being the real heroes of the evening.

The type of meth lab in the Ford minivan “was extremely volatile,” Hodgkiss said. “They [Lampasas firemen] put themselves in direct danger.” As members of the Fire Department “did the dirty and dangerous work,” they deftly dismantled the lab, the trooper said.

Added Hodgkiss: “I feel like my part was relatively simple.”

Riggs and one other occupant in the vehicle, Jordan Kyle Miller, 23, of Lampasas, each were charged with possession of a controlled substance Penalty Group 1 greater than or equal to 200 grams and less than 400 grams.

In addition, they were charged with a second offense: possession of certain chemicals with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance.

Riggs also was charged with driving with an invalid license.

Both men were booked into Lampasas County Jail.

Riggs and Miller, who lived together at the Lampasas apartment complex, offered no resistance after they pulled into the Hacienda parking lot, Hodgkiss said.

As a precaution, the Fire Department haz mat team requested that two studio apartments at the location be evacuated.

Besides two state troopers and the Fire Department, two Lampasas Police Department units and one from the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department converged on the arrest scene.

The value of the suspected meth lab was not immediately known, Hodgkiss said. The lab was sent to a Texas Department of Public Safety laboratory. As of Sunday night, the weight, size and amount of suspected methamphetamine was undetermined, pending results from the DPS lab, Hodgkiss said.