A weekend bust of an apparent small-scale methamphetamine lab in Powell has resulted in three felony charges against a Powell man, and prosecutors say they’ll likely bring additional charges against his wife.

John B. Shehan, 47, stands charged with two felony counts relating to manufacturing meth: one count alleges he was in possession of equipment or supplies intended to operate a clandestine drug lab at the time of a Saturday search, and the other alleges he conspired with his wife to operate a clandestine lab over a period of several months.

Shehan also faces a third felony count of delivering a controlled substance, after reportedly being caught selling a small amount of meth to a police informant on Friday night.

Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters set Shehan’s bail at $50,000 cash at a Tuesday afternoon hearing. The judge said the risk to the community is “significant and substantial,” and the allegation that two children may have been on the premises while meth was being made is “extraordinarily dangerous.”

Deputy Park County Attorney Tim Blatt had asked for a $75,000 cash bond. Shehan and his wife, Mildred Shehan, who spoke from the courtroom audience on his behalf, asked for a $50,000 surety bond, saying that was something they could post.

John Shehan, a painter and drywaller, said he has lived in the area for roughly 12 years.

“I just started my own company, and I’ve got three or four jobs that are lined up,” he told the judge.

“This could complicate things,” Waters responded, sticking with his initial $50,000 cash figure.

The judge said he may consider modifying the amount after Shehan’s court-appointed defender is on board, but “keep in mind these are major charges; they’re serious. The threat to the public is serious, and this is not something the court is in a position to take lightly.”

At Blatt’s request, Waters ordered John Shehan to have no contact with the children or his wife if he makes bail.

“It is likely there will be charges coming down against her (Mildred Shehan), based on this information, as well,” Blatt said.

The affidavit from Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent David Ferguson, used to support the charges against John Shehan, indicates police had suspicions about the couple for some time, but a case didn’t come together until Friday.

That’s when an informant told Powell police they could buy some meth from John Shehan.

The informant told Agent Ferguson they believed John Shehan was using a building behind his home to make meth; the informant had seen Shehan with a bottle and chemicals, and the building smelled strongly of chemicals; the air burned their eyes, the affidavit says.

Supervised by DCI agents, the informant set out on Friday night to buy a gram of methamphetamine from Shehan for $150. However, Shehan only had a quarter of a gram, which he sold to the informant for $20, Ferguson wrote.

Shehan reportedly told the informant he was willing to make more, but that the informant would have to go buy the pseudoephedrine — a cold medicine — needed to make the drug, Ferguson said. Because it can be used in the creation of meth, state law limits how much pseudoephedrine a person can buy each month, and sales are tracked.

Authorities obtained a search warrant on Saturday and combed the Shehans’ North Cheyenne Street home that afternoon. Ferguson said officers found the remains of a clandestine lab in the garage. That included a clear plastic bottle apparently used to cook the drug, empty packages of cold medicine, an empty cold compress pack, disassembled batteries, coffee filters, solvents and muriatic (hydrochloric) acid.

“All are necessary to manufacture methamphetamine,” Ferguson wrote.

Officers also found marijuana cigarettes and a plastic baggie with some apparent meth in the house, among other items.

Charging documents indicate police became suspicious of the Shehans last June, when a city of Powell sanitation worker found a cardboard box in a recycling bin that held what appeared to be the remains of a small meth lab.

The box contained a clear plastic bottle with a pink substance and another black, burned material inside, Ferguson wrote. There were also three empty boxes of cold medicine, empty bottles of lighter fluid and drain cleaner, an empty cold compress package and two batteries stripped of their lithium, he wrote.

The cardboard box also had a sheet of paper listing the name “Shehan,” and a sticker on the package of cold medicine helped police determine it had been purchased by Mildred Shehan at Powell Drug, the affidavit says.

DCI agents also pulled pseudoephedrine sales logs to learn the Shehans had bought cold medicine from several local stores multiple times, Ferguson wrote.

After police’s Saturday search, Mildred Shehan admitted to having bought cold medicine on several occasions to help her husband make meth, and John Shehan admitted to having made the drug in the past, the affidavit alleges.

Both Shehans denied distributing methamphetamine, though John Shehan allegedly said that if people brought him pseudoephedrine, he would give them some.

Two children were living in the home, the charging documents say. John Shehan reportedly told Ferguson that he and his wife would wait until the children were away before using drugs and kept a padlock on his bedroom door to keep them away from the substances.