'Chemicals piled from floor to ceiling' at cottage of accused eye doctor: police

Christopher Burton Phillips is escorted from provincial court in Dartmouth, N.S. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A former eye doctor faces two charges in a Halifax court as police continue to examine a "volatile" chemical stash at a nearby cottage where they say chemicals were stored "from floor to ceiling."

Cole Harbour, N.S. resident Christopher Burton Phillips, 42, appeared in court Friday on charges of uttering threats and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Phillips was arrested in Ottawa on Wednesday after he triggered an evacuation at a hotel while a Canada-wide warrant was out for his arrest. Police have also linked him to two incidents that prompted evacuations near Halifax on Tuesday.

One of those evacuation orders remains in effect at a cottage outside Halifax, where police say Phillips is storing a large quantity of unlabelled chemicals that continue to pose a fire risk to the surrounding area.

Chief Supt. Roland Wells says investigators are slowly combing over a "cottage full of chemicals in Grand Desert," where police have called in chemists, fire crews and other experts to help with the "volatile" situation.

"Within the cottage is a variety of containers filled with chemicals stacked from floor to ceiling," Wells told reporters Friday afternoon. "Many of these chemicals are unstable."

Wells added that some of the chemicals appear to be degrading, which would indicate they have been there for some time. "I don't think any of us have ever seen this volume of chemicals," he saud,

Wells also confirmed that police have recovered an unspecified amount of osmium tetroxide, a highly toxic chemical that triggered an evacuation in a Cole Harbour, N.S. neighbourhood Tuesday.

"All of that chemical has been safely and hermetically sealed," Wells said.

Police allege Phillips is connected to the Grand Desert chemical stash and the osmium tetroxide found in Cole Harbour.

Phillips is a former American eye doctor who was once married to U.S. Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller. They reportedly divorced in 2006.

Two years later, Phillips closed up the eye-care clinic he owned in Seattle and filed for bankruptcy.

He is also a former U.S. Army biochemist with a history of mental illness, alcohol abuse and criminal behaviour.

Phillips moved to Halifax after 2008 and married Gosia Phillips, a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine.

Gosia Phillips reportedly called police on Tuesday to inform them that her husband was driving to Ottawa, prompting the Canada-wide warrant for his arrest.

RCMP say there are no plans at this point for Phillips to undergo a mental health assessment.