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SLO County’s repeat hash lab exploder?

February 5, 2015

hash1What comes around apparently goes around for a Los Osos resident with a liking for manufacturing hash oil in his apartment.

The man severely burned in a hash lab explosion on Tuesday was convicted in 2010 of manufacturing oil in an incident that sparked a fire and injured an 11-year-old boy. [Tribune] Matthew David Culver, 32, was still receiving treatment for severe burns to his face and arms, as of Wednesday afternoon, after using a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze Tuesday.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s investigators say Culver caused the fire around 4:30 p.m. when his hash operation exploded inside his apartment at 1351 Los Olivos Avenue. Detectives plan to charge Culver with manufacturing a controlled substance and elder abuse after he is released from the Fresno burn unit.

An elderly man who leases Culver the apartment was also inside when the explosion occurred, according to a sheriff’s news release. The landlord did not suffer any injuries, but responders transported him to the hospital with heart-related issues.

Culver drove himself to the hospital before medical personnel transferred him to Fresno.

The convicted hash manufacturer is currently out on bail for a charge of selling more than 25 pounds of marijuana. The arrest occurred on Jan. 23, and he pleaded not guilty on Jan. 28.

Culver’s 2010 conviction stemmed from an oil lab explosion that caused a fire in a Templeton residential trailer in Nov. 2009. Sheriff’s detectives say that the 11-year-old boy, the son of Culver’s then-girlfriend, often assisted him with the hash oil production.

The boy told detectives that he was helping Culver mix the oil in a bowl when it tipped over on the stove. The young teen suffered minor burns to his face, and Culver put out the fire by breaking a window in order to run a hose into the house.

Culver has a list of local felony convictions that date back to 2005 and include petty theft, receiving stolen property and being a felon in possession of a firearm.


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This guy was getting some sympathy votes after the first story was written about him.

Now where are those folks?

How’s the collection going for his medical bills?

Yeah, I thought so…we’re stuck paying for his dumb, stupid @ss.


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Boy and to think, when I was 11 I was out building bike ramp jumps, playing baseball, building forts etc, when I could have worked in a hash lab!! Boy my youth was wasted.


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Yeah, we rode our bikes till the wheels fell off, with cards clothespinned onto the spokes.

Shot BB guns at cans, and played in the nearby creek. Had a rope with a knot at the bottom tied to the biggest oak tree around, best swing ever.

Tied a rope to a bike and pulled each other on skateboards as fast as we could go- – -without helmets.

Never came in the house much before dark, when mom whistled that dinner was ready.

God it was great!


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And Los Osos is worried about a McDonald’s tainting the town.


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Apparently, he’s trying to become a nominee for a Darwin Award.

Perhaps a third time will do the trick.


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Once a d-bag, always a d-bag.


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One is tempted to ask why this guy is still on the street?


He should be in protective permanent custody. For OUR protection.


Book ’em, Danno…er…strike that..Oh, I know…WELD the jail door SHUT, Danno!


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Wow….Bowl of butane next to the stove? I sympathize over the guy’s burns but that is beyond stupid. Guy must have the I.Q. of a turnip…


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Quit making disparaging remarks about turnips!


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Not butane, a gas at room temperature, but liquid lighter fluid, Zippo not Bic. Light petroleum distillate and naptha.


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