MATTOON, Ill. — One Illinois man’s distaste for law enforcement apparently did not extend to the use of a police chief’s private property for illegal purposes.

Brian L. Shadwell, 43, was arrested Wednesday for trespassing on property near Lake Paradise belonging to Mattoon police Chief Jason Taylor, the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported.

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Court records indicate Shadwell has been charged with methamphetamine manufacture and using another’s property for drug manufacturing.

Taylor, who was alerted to “suspicious activity” on his property, accompanied officers to the locale and found Shadwell driving a lawn tractor pulling a trailer in a wooded area, the newspaper reported.

According to an affidavit prepared by Taylor, responding officers also located a one-gallon jar containing cold medicine pill materials, coffee filters and other items traditionally used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, including 11 containers believed to be “generators” used in meth production.

A chain saw, later determined to have been stolen from an Effingham, Illinois, store, was also recovered.

Taylor stated in the affidavit that Shadwell claimed he did not personally place the jar in the location where officers found it, but added, “I probably know who did,” the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported.

Taylor told the newspaper that an Illinois State Police methamphetamine response team field-tested liquid that officers found and determined it to be 22 ounces of the drug. A search of Shadwell’s adjacent property by state police revealed additional meth manufacturing materials.

In a separate statement to the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier, Taylor said methamphetamine has had “a substantial, negative impact on our society” and “there is never a positive ending” for those who use it.

“People do incredibly stupid things while methamphetamine is part of their lives,” the police chief said.

Cox Media Group