GOSHEN — Two men living in Nappanee who were arrested following an Elkhart Interdiction and Covert Enforcement Unit investigation have been charged with dealing in methamphetamine.

Charles Thompson, 52, of 455 W. Indiana Ave., Nappanee, and Dana Hall, 55, of 402 S. Main St., Nappanee, appeared in Elkhart Circuit Court Thursday, Feb. 21, where they were read their formal charges.

The Elkhart County ICE Unit and Elkhart County Emergency Services Unit served a search warrant at Thompson’s residence around 8:45 p.m. Feb. 13. According to the probable cause affidavit for Thompson’s case, when members of the Emergency Services Unit entered the residence, they found Hall on the first floor and Thompson walking down the stairs with “an item in his hands.”

According to the affidavit, as soon as Thompson saw the police he ran back upstairs. Shortly after there was a popping noise upstairs.

A fire broke on the second floor and the Nappanee Fire Department was called. After the fire was extinguished, firefighters told police they found two two-liter plastic bottles with a “cloudy substance” inside. They also found what looked like a camping fuel container.

Police found several items throughout the house that they associated with the production of meth, including chemicals; batteries; coffee filters with a white, powdery substance; pseudoephedrine packets and several baggies.

Hall told police Thompson was adding all the ingredients to a two-liter bottle. He also told police he has a “bad methamphetamine” addiction, and that he had been trading boxes of pseudoephedrine for meth with Thompson.

A judge appointed a public defender to represent both men. Their next hearing is scheduled for March 21.