Three Santa Fe police officers were treated for exposure to toxic chemicals and part of a west-side neighborhood was evacuated Friday afternoon after police announced they had found a suspected methamphetamine lab.

Six hours later, police Capt. Aric Wheeler retracted the statement, saying that "after entering the residence, our teams found it was not an active meth lab."

Earlier in the day, three police officers entered an apartment at 624 Agua Fría St. that a neighbor said had been producing strong odors for almost a week. The officers arrested two residents before succumbing to symptoms from toxic gases.

Roger Jimenez was treated at the scene while Philip Hernandez and Christopher Reynosa were taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center after complaining of symptoms including headaches and nausea. All three officers were treated and released by 8 p.m.

A male and a female in their 20s, as well as a dog found inside the apartment, were released from custody at about the same time and returned to their residence.

At about 8:30 p.m., residents in the area were informed by phone that it was safe to return to their homes and that the hazardous-materials situation had been resolved.

Police said they were not sure what produced the gases to make the three officers sick. Reportedly the gas smelled of acetone, a chemical used to purify meth.

The incident disrupted life in the neighborhood. Police evacuated homes immediately surrounding the site by 2:30 p.m. and blocked off the 600 block of Agua Fría Street for most of the afternoon. Children at the nearby Monica Roybal Youth Center and the Carlos Ortega Teen Center, 737 Agua Fría St., were evacuated and transported to Fort Marcy Recreation Complex on Bishops Lodge Road.

Utility crews cut off electricity and gas to the building before a hazardous-materials response team entered later in the day.

Christina Sisley Schatz, owner of a neighboring business, The Downtown Day Spa, 614 Agua Fría St., had to send three clients home when police began taping off the area.

She wasn't aware of what was going on until friends who had learned of the news called Friday afternoon to warn her that a possible meth lab had been found next to her business. "They said they're right next door and to get out," Schatz said as she got in her car.

Up Romero Road, a street that snakes behind The Downtown Day Spa, Mike Saiz stood outside. Saiz is the sixth generation to live in the family home in the 600 block of Agua Fría Street and couldn't believe what he was being told.

"I went to get the mail and police told me to get inside," Saiz said.

Ironically, early Friday morning Santa Fe police had pulled over a 2001 gray Toyota Highlander on Cerrillos Road near Richards Lane that contained tools used in the production of meth. According to a police report, the driver had no valid identification, though officers later determined he is Justin Stone, 25, of 711 Meadow Lane, White Rock, N.M.

Police identified a passenger in his vehicle as Emma Keener, 20, 994 Alamo Road. Keener was arrested at the scene on a warrant stemming from previous charges of aggravated burglary and larceny of a firearm. As she was being arrested, Stone sped off around the corner of Cerrillos Road and Richards Avenue.

Police chased the car on foot as it pulled around the Walgreens, 3298 Cerrillos Road, on the corner. Stone abandoned the car in the parking lot and fled on foot. He has yet to be located.

Inside the vehicle, police found various ingredients and a portable stove-top heater, as well as a stolen firearm.

"A lot of the time, people will cook the meth off-site in a rural location and bring it into a location like this," Wheeler said.

Stone also is the subject of arrest warrants for burglary and trafficking of controlled substance charges.

Stone was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and conspiracy in connection with a meth lab bust in January 2011 at a residence in the 1700 block of Paseo de Peralta as well as a 2006 drug bust that led to a scandal at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Stone, after admitting to being a meth addict, told state District Judge Michael Vigil during a 2007 sentencing for receiving stolen property: "I don't want to come back to Los Alamos. I can't be in New Mexico."

After pleading guilty to receiving stolen property, state prosecutors dropped one count each of possession of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Stone was attending a drug treatment program in Denver and was to be placed on five years probation. Stone asked to be allowed to serve that probation in Texas. Vigil allowed that but told Stone in 2007, "You know, there's methamphetamine in Texas and Colorado. It doesn't matter where I send you. If you don't make the changes in your life that you need to make, you'll be back."

Contact Nico Roesler at 986-3089 or nroesler@sfnewmexican.com.