Two chemistry professors in Arkansas have been arrested under accusations of creating methamphetamine, according to a statement from the Clark County Sheriff’s Department.
Terry David Bateman, 45, and Bradley Allen Rowland, 40, were arrested Friday on allegations of manufacturing methamphetamine and using drug paraphernalia.
Henderson State University’s website lists both Bateman and Rowland as associate professors at the school. Bateman is also listed as the chemistry program’s director of undergraduate research, with some of his research interests including that of “synthetic methodology” and ” environmental chemistry”.
In a statement to Global News, the university’s vice-president of communications, Tina Hall, said that both professors are currently on administrative leave effective Oct. 11.
Hall’s statement also mentioned that the university’s Reynolds Science Centre closed Oct. 8 after the report of an “undetermined chemical odour.”
Initial testing of the centre revealed the presence of benzyl chloride in a laboratory, according to Hall.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration lists Benzyl Chloride as a list II substance that can be used in making amphetamine-class drugs.
Both the authorities and the university have not indicated whether the allegations and the centre’s shutdown over the chemical odour are related.
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