A Baton Rouge house on Cottage Hill Drive was hiding what investigators describe as the largest fentanyl manufacturing laboratory ever found in the Drug Enforcement Administration's four-state New Orleans Field Division. Deputies arrested 34-year-old Torrey Lewis Jr. on Thursday, Nov. 12, after searching three properties tied to what the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office says was a large-scale fentanyl trafficking operation.
According to WAFB, the investigation began after Louisiana State Police contacted EBRSO narcotics agents about a significant fentanyl seizure, which set off a probe that led deputies to the Cottage Hill Drive property. Investigators there found professional-grade equipment valued at approximately $250,000, the station reports. As WBRZ reported, officials identified three Baton Rouge properties believed connected to Lewis's alleged operation: Cottage Hill Drive, Bluebonnet Boulevard, and Mammoth Avenue.
Inside the Clandestine Lab
Officials say they discovered a large-scale clandestine fentanyl synthesis lab with sophisticated, professional-grade equipment at the Cottage Hill Drive address, according to the same WBRZ account. Substantial quantities of dichloromethane, ethanol, and other chemicals associated with fentanyl production were also found at the site, per that report.
DEA chemists confirmed the presence of fentanyl on laboratory equipment and the surrounding floor, the station's report on the case states. The main reactor vessel reportedly contained approximately 58 liters of liquid — an amount officials said could potentially produce up to 127 pounds of fentanyl powder if successfully synthesized, representing an estimated 568,960 potentially fatal doses.
What Deputies Seized in the Searches
Across the three search warrants executed Nov. 12, deputies reportedly seized approximately 22.5 grams of fentanyl, 3 grams of cocaine, two rifles, $8,531 in cash, and equipment containing fentanyl residue, per the same account. EBRSO and Louisiana State Police Troop NOLA officials reportedly conducted an extensive surveillance operation over the preceding three months, during which officials said they observed Lewis distributing suspected fentanyl to multiple locations in and around New Orleans.
The New Orleans Field Division covers Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and the DEA identified the Cottage Hill Drive lab as the largest domestic fentanyl synthesizing laboratory discovered to date within that division. Sheriff Sid J. Gautreaux III said authorities would aggressively pursue fentanyl manufacturing and distribution operations across jurisdictional boundaries to protect the public.
Charges and Next Steps
Lewis faces charges of operating a clandestine fentanyl laboratory, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of drug paraphernalia, illegal carrying of a firearm with drugs, and money laundering, the WAFB report states. Under Louisiana law, creating or operating a clandestine laboratory covers purchasing, selling, distributing, or possessing materials, supplies, equipment, or a structure with intent that it be used for unlawful manufacture of a controlled dangerous substance, according to the Louisiana State Legislature. A separate statute on the books prohibits producing, manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing — or possessing with intent to do so — a Schedule I controlled substance or analogue, per the legislature's published text, though the available excerpt does not spell out how either law applies specifically to Lewis's case. The investigation remains ongoing.
The Cottage Hill Drive case follows a string of other fentanyl busts reported around Baton Rouge in recent months. A separate operation dismantled by EBRSO after a months-long investigation turned up thousands of fentanyl doses, while a different Baton Rouge drug bust reported by WBRZ involved roughly 21,000 deadly doses, and an investigation into trafficking on Ruby Court yielded more than 100 grams of fentanyl and other drugs. Louisiana has also seen its largest-ever fentanyl bust elsewhere in Baton Rouge, with police telling WDSU they took 181 pounds of the drug off the street in that separate case.
