Police believe Corbin man seriously burned while operating meth lab

Authorities think a Corbin man was severely burned Thursday morning after a methamphetamine lab blew up on him.

Glenn Centers, 53, of Corbin, was admitted to the Baptist Regional Medical Center emergency room with chemical burns on one side of his body.

According to police, Centers’ burns were consistent with those a person would receive from anhydrous ammonia — one of the key components in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

“The burns were all up and down the right side of his body,” said Corbin Police Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Rob Jones. “You could tell by the way his skin was peeling in was from anhydrous ammonia.”

Police were unable to question Centers about the burns because he was placed on a ventilator and airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington for treatment.

While he was being treated at BRMC, a small glass pipe was find on Centers and “about a gram of meth” was discovered in one of his boots.

Corbin Police Sgt. Glenn Taylor Jr., who is investigating the case, said he plans to charge Centers with first-degree possession of controlled substances second offense (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Authorities searched Centers’ Hinkle Street home Thursday found no evidence of methamphetamine production there.

“We know this did not happen there,” Taylor said. “We’ve got three or four leads that he could have burned while making meth somewhere in Laurel County or down in Whitley.”

Police received the call of the incident at about 7:30 a.m. from officials with BRMC. Taylor said he thinks Centers was burned about half an hour earlier. After the accident, he apparently called his son who transported him to the hospital.

Taylor said Centers was arrested in 2005 for possession of methamphetamine and sentenced to 15 years in jail. He has been out on parole. Authorities say he has been under suspicion for manufacturing methamphetamine because he’s shown up on the state’s “Meth Check” database as having purchased Sudafed regularly. Also, they say he’s been mentioned on the police department’s drug tip line and through informants.

Centers is the former owner of Centers Contracting.