MAPP-SD, a project of Prairie View Prevention Services, Inc., is a comprehensive Methamphetamine awareness and prevention project. 
MAPP-SD is dedicated to:
u   Increase awareness of Meth and the problems associated with its use, manufacture and distribution;
u Provide, at no cost, professional Meth awareness and prevention education to groups and organizations on a community, regional and statewide level;
u Be a no-cost, ongoing resource for South Dakota citizens to deal with issues rising from the manufacture, use and distribution of Meth.

Dec. 11-14, 2005 Snapshot

Dec. 14
In Alabama- A drug raid on a mobile home park netted the arrest of one person and recovered several ounces of Meth. Agents with the Chilton County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force arrested a 35-year old man (later determined to be in the country illegally from Mexico) at his home.  He possessed six-ounces of Meth with a street value of about $8000 along with marijuana and several items of drug paraphernalia at the time of his arrest.  The Chilton County Sheriff said he believed the Meth was imported. 

In Florida - An attempt to manufacture Meth set off a blaze in a Lake City motel room and led to the capture of a Texas man charged with trying to produce the drug. The 46-year old man had been mixing the ingredients for Meth when the process set his room on fire.  The suspect first barricaded himself in his second-story room when emergency officials arrived, then he tried to exit through a window.  After he was captured, he was taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.  He faces a warrant for Meth possession; other charges including manufacturing and arson, are pending while investigators continue to sift through the scene.  The heat of the burning chemicals destroyed most of the evidence in the room, making it difficult to say exactly how much of the drug was being produced.

In Minnesota - With an estimated street value of more than $350,000, the four pounds of Meth recovered during the arrests of two people in Staples, Minnesota constitutes one of the largest drug seizures ever in central Minnesota.  Officers from eight law enforcement agencies worked together on the case.  The arrests – made at the Amtrak station - were the result of a lengthy investigation into drug trafficking into the Brainerd area.  A 25-year old Oregon man and a 29-year old Minnesota woman were arrested and face federal charges of conspiracy to distribute Meth.
The investigation also led to the arrests of two Brainerd men, a 28-year-old and a 30-year-old.  The four were described as “heavy hitters” in the local drug trade.

In Arizona - Police arrested a man after finding three pounds of Meth in his home, along with his 7-month-old son.  The 33-year-old was booked into jail on suspicion of possession of the Meth, which had a $30,000 street value.  Police said they received complaints about the home and found handguns, glassware and equipment associated with making Meth, although no lab was found.  Shortly after the suspect was arrested, his live-in girlfriend arrived home with her 5-year-old son. Both children were taken into protective custody and will undergo health examinations. The suspect could face child abuse charges.

In Montana – A 45-year-old Miles City resident will spend more than 20 years in federal prison for his conviction in a Meth case.  The judge cited the fact that the suspect not only manufactured Meth but also taught others how to cook it.  In addition to the prison term, he was also ordered to pay $3,836 to the Drug Enforcement Administration for cleanup work.

DEC. 13
In Tennessee - A Hawkins County man received a bit of a shock when he opened what appeared to be a plastic bag of garbage dumped on his property and received a burst of ether fumes to the face.  The man suspected the bag might contain Meth lab components, and he called the Sheriff's Department.  When deputies arrived on the scene, they confirmed that the bag contained Meth lab components and coffee filters containing a half-ounce of finished Meth. The ether did not injure the man.

In Colorado - An intense manhunt finally ended for the last of a group of suspected Meth addicts who had held Mesa County in a jittery grip of fear and violence for weeks.  The arrest of the last - and, police say, the most violent - suspect after a string of shootings, chases, neighborhood evacuations, road closures and other arrests brought a sense of relief to residents and law enforcement.
The high-profile crime spree that resulted in the arrest of about two-dozen intertwined users and dealers began with a shootout in a downtown Grand Junction neighborhood. No one was injured or arrested.  A man was shot and killed in another downtown neighborhood the next night. Police arrested three suspects who told authorities they spotted the victim and decided to rob him while they were out collecting drug debts.  Ten days later, a 20-year-old who is reportedly involved in the Meth subculture allegedly shot and killed a man who had recently pleaded guilty to selling Meth.  On Nov. 23, another suspected Meth user was shot six times in the desert north of Grand Junction and left for dead but managed to make his way to help and tell authorities that two alleged Meth addicts had shot him.  The search for the pair resulted in a chase a week later, when shots were fired at the patrol car of a Mesa County sheriff's deputy. Those shots went through the windshield and narrowly missed the officer at the wheel.  That shooting triggered the intense 11-day manhunt that ended after one of the men turned himself in and the other was arrested at a Glenwood Springs motel where he had a cache of handguns, rifles and dynamite.

In Illinois - A Kewanee man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for Meth crimes. The 27-year-old was found guilty of manufacturing 100-400 grams of Meth, possession of 100-400 grams of Meth and transporting anhydrous ammonia.  When he was arrested, he was on parole for other Meth charges.  In his latest defense attorney asked for a lighter sentence because the suspect’s Meth “was of low quality, and his sentence should reflect that.”  The judge disagreed, saying, "To this court it doesn't matter if it's grade A or grade F, it's still Meth."

In Tennessee - An Anderson County deputy has filed a petition against the sheriff's department for workers' compensation over Meth lab exposure. The deputy and her attorney say for more than a-year-and-a-half, she "had been repeatedly exposed to Methamphetamine laboratories and pre-cursor chemicals" during her employment with the County. They claim that the Deputy "...developed auto-immune disorders, lupus and Sjogren's, both gradual onset conditions, from said exposures."  The illnesses don't come as a shock to other officers.  One Knoxville police investigator explained, "All these solvents that they use are basically carcinogens proven to cause cancer.  You're going to get blind-sided sometimes.  You are going to walk into a lab and not know it's as big as you thought it was and you might be in there for 30 minutes and you don't smell it but it's there."

Dec. 12
In South Carolina - A fire and explosion in a back yard shed led investigators with a multi-agency narcotics team to a clan Meth lab, and they arrested a relative of the property’s owner when he came to the scene.  A 27-year-old man was charged with trafficking in Meth. The shed caught fire apparently as a result of Meth production, and a high-pressure tank containing unknown chemicals exploded. No one was injured in the fire or explosion.  A sheriff’s deputy determined the shed was being used as a Meth lab and summoned the county’s Multi-Agency Narcotics Enforcement Team.  The team seized more than 400 grams of Meth from the shed.  As officers were investigating, the suspect showed up.  After investigators interviewed him they suspected he was running the lab and arrested him. 

In Illinois - Police arrested three people on drug charges after executing a search warrant on a home.  Officers found Meth chemicals, finished Meth, and a loaded 25-caliber gun in a bedroom dresser.

Dec. 11
In Alabama - Two Hurricane Katrina evacuees were arrested and charged after they were found cooking Meth in a motel room paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  A 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman are each being held on a $1-million bond on charges of unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance.  The man was pulled over for a traffic violation and the arresting officer found he was in possession of Meth and drug paraphernalia. The male suspect led police back to the motel, where investigators found the woman and a makeshift Meth lab.  The man is also being held on a $5,000 bond on other drug-related charges; the woman is being held on $6,000 bond on other drug-related charges.   

Back to In the News