A July drug bust in another county led police to a Crawfordsville meth-making lab last week, authorities said.

Indiana State Police contacted local authorities after arresting a man connected to the local operation, according to court records.

The man and two others were in another county July 26 trying to steal anhydrous ammonia, a key ingredient in methamphetamine making, police said. One of them told police they were getting it to use with other ingredients to be supplied by Shane Pyle, 26, of Crawfordsville, according to court records.

Police set up surveillance at Pyle’s house, 2205 A Indianapolis Road, where they saw a woman with a small child in her arms answer the door, Montgomery County Police Officer Ken Maynor said.

Believing a baby was being kept in a house where meth was being made, police got a search warrant for Pyle’s duplex home, Maynor said.

According to court records, police found evidence that Pyle ground ephedrine pills and extracted lithium strips from batteries to make meth, had gathered ingredients necessary for meth making, and had at least three grams of meth and more than 10 grams of ephedrine.

He was formally charged Tuesday in Montgomery Circuit Court with conspiracy to deal meth and attempted dealing in meth, both class B felonies, possession of meth, a class C felony, and possession of precursors with the intent to manufacture and possession of ephedrine or pseudoepedrine greater than 10 grams, both class D felonies. He bonded out of jail earlier this week.

His sometime live-in girlfriend, Rachel Jeffers, 21, 604 Lafayette Road, is charged with neglect of a dependent, a class D felony, and possession of marijuana, visiting a common nuisance and taking a child to a common nuisance, class A misdemeanors. Her five-month-old daughter was placed in the care of a family member, Maynor said.

Jeffers pleaded guilty in 2005 to possession of paraphernalia and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in the body.

Pyle pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in 2005, and to auto theft, conversion and possession of chemical reagents or precursors in 2006, all in separate cases.

The penalty for a class:

n B felony conviction is 6-20 years in prison and a possible fine of no more than $10,000.

n C felony conviction is 2-8 years in prison and a possible fine of no more than $10,000.

n D felony conviction is six months to two years in prison and a possible fine of no more than $10,000.

n A misdemeanor conviction may be no more than two months in jail and a possible fine of no more than $500.