Man was cooking meth in hotel bathroom, say cops

A Pennsylvania man was arrested in Southold Monday night after he set off a fire alarm while cooking methamphetamine in a hotel bathroom, police said.

The Greenport Fire Department and Southold police responded to a fire alarm at the Townsend Manor Inn shortly before midnight, officials said. When they got there, police said the officers discovered the smoke alarm had been triggered by a guest who had been cooking the drug in his hotel room bathroom.

Police said they eventually found and arrested Timothy Stepp, 48, a worker from a tree trimming crew who had been working in the area.

Stepp was charged with third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine and criminal possession of precursors of methamphetamine, both felony charges, as well as one count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.

Stepp, of Easton, Pennsylvania, was held overnight and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at Southold Town Justice Court.