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Police find moonshine distillery in Sandy basement

Posted at 5:02 PM, Feb 21, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-21 19:02:41-05

SANDY, Utah – Police say they located an active moonshine distillery in the basement of a Sandy home on Tuesday.

Sandy police say they went to a house on Tuesday looking for drugs, but found the active moonshine still instead. At first, they thought the still was a meth lab, but after a little research, they determined it was moonshine.

“Where they located the still, was down in a furnace room. The still puts off alcohol fumes, gases, where it was located was dangerous. There wasn’t a ventilation system set up for it. This could have caused a significant fire hazard,” said Sandy Police Sgt. Jon Arnold.

An ATF agent says this is unusual; one of the few moonshine stills they’ve uncovered since prohibition.

31-year-old Derek Ouimet was booked into jail for possession of methamphetamine and 33-year-old Jeremy Hiatt was arrested on outstanding warrants. Both were also booked for having an active distillery.

Police are still trying to figure out what to charge the men with. By law, you’re not allowed to distill hard liquor without a license from the federal government and state of Utah.