A Barry County man has been charged with attempting to manufacture a controlled substance after agents with the Southwest Missouri Drug Task Force found the makings of a Meth lab at his residence.

Barry County Prosecutor Johnnie Cox has filed drug charges against Edwin L. Hubbard, 50, of Aurora, after Task Force officers performing a "knock and talk" at the suspect's residence discovered items commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, officers went to the Hubbard residence in rural Aurora after receiving complaints about a chemical odor coming from the property. When officers arrived at the home, they could also smell a strong chemical odor.

Hubbard gave the officers consent to search the property. Behind the residence, officers found a fire burning in a burn pile where they discovered a loaded syringe, empty cans of camp fuel and a five-gallon bucket containing a white granular substance consistent with ammonia nitrate.

Inside the home, officers seized Mason jars, a bottle of sodium hydroxide, muriatic acid, one box of pseudoephedrine pills, a plastic water bottle containing a small amount of bi-phase liquid, baggies, a cut straw with residue that field tested positive for Methamphetamine and assorted items of drug paraphernalia.

Hubbard was formally arraigned in Barry County Associate Circuit Court on Oct. 27 and pleaded not guilty to the attempted drug manufacturing charge. Hubbard was unable to post a $50,000 bond and remains in the Barry County Jail.