Dec. 15-18, 2005,
Snapshot
Dec. 18
In Texas - Police busted two makeshift Meth labs at the same hotel
within ten days. The most recent incident happened Thursday evening,
when an unidentified person called police at 6:50 p.m. to report a
"strong chemical odor" at a hotel in Bedford. The week before, on Dec.
7, firefighters responded to a small fire at the same hotel and
discovered a hotel room with glassware and chemicals consistent with the
manufacture of illegal narcotics. According to an investigator, the
fire was likely started during the attempt to produce crystal Meth.
The hotel's manager, worried Thursday that a similar lab had been set
up, unlocked the door on the second floor for officers. Police said they
found about $40,000 worth of finished Meth - about one pound - in the
room. Police have not made any arrests. Investigators aren't sure what,
if any, connection there is between the two incidents
In Pennsylvania - Lehighton police, acting on a tip that a prison
escapee was living in an apartment above a tavern, say they got their
man and discovered a Meth lab in the bargain. The 30-year-old escapee
had been on the loose since Dec. 7, when he escaped while taking out the
garbage at the prison in Easton. A Lehighton police officer received a
tip around midnight Friday that the wanted man was living above a
lounge. Officers went to the apartment around 2 a.m. Saturday. The
suspect answered the door, surrendered without incident and asked one of
the state troopers to retrieve a pair of shoes from the two-room
apartment. The trooper found equipment and chemicals used to make Meth.
The man had been in jail on a variety of charges including Meth
possession.
In North Carolina- The Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribe hopes a new
program will give Meth users a new beginning. Leaders of the tribe say
expanding treatment for drug addicts is one of many signs the tribe has
made its own promising beginning in the fight against Meth. Cherokee
made changes in treatment, law enforcement and public awareness that
state officials and experts hail as a model for other communities.
Among the strategies the tribe has adopted to curb drugs:
• A law regulating the sale of cold-medicine tablets containing
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, ingredients in Meth, that is stricter
than the one North Carolina passed this year.
• An anonymous drug hotline to assuage the fears of potential tipsters.
Tips on the hotline have led to more than 50 arrests.
• Encouraging neighborhood watches and connecting them with police.
• A task force in which Cherokee police work with Swain and Jackson
counties and the FBI. The other agencies can arrest suspects who have
fled the reservation.
• Devoting three police officers to narcotics instead of one, and
installing a canine division with three drug dogs.
• A contract with a private company to test confiscated drugs.
• Televised anti-drug rallies and proclamations.
• A Na Le Ni Sgi, the new treatment program, started in September 2004
to serve drug addicts and mental health patients. It averaged 478
meetings with patients per month from January to August, up from 91 in
its first four months.
In
Indiana - A treatment program intended to help Meth-addicted inmates
break free of the powerfully addictive stimulant and stay clean after
their release has graduated its first class at a southwestern Indiana
prison. The 93 inmates gathered Thursday evening in the Wabash Valley
Correctional Facility's gym for their graduation ceremony from "Clean
Lifestyle Is Freedom Forever," a program in place at several state
prisons that's tailored specifically for Meth addicts. The program
incorporates addiction counseling, anger management, parenting,
occupational training and high school and college classes. The inmates
who graduated Thursday will now help mentor new students.
In North Carolina – A Bridgeton man is accused of setting fire to
Meth lab in an apparent effort to destroy evidence. The suspect
was caught when a deputy, acting on a tip, knocked on a shed’s door.
The man tried to jam the door shut and set the shed on fire. The deputy
caught the suspect and called the fire department. Fast action on the
part of two fire departments put out the fire before it could either
spread or explode, but neighbors were warned about possible toxic fumes
released in the blaze. The suspect was arrested and charged with
manufacturing Meth and arson. He had recently been released from jail,
after serving a sentence for setting up a Meth lab.
Dec. 17
In Illinois - Two Centralia residents are being held in the Marion
County Jail for alleged possession of Meth. A 36-year-old man and a
41-year-old woman were arrested following a traffic stop. Police say
they initially tried to stop the vehicle for having an expired
registration. It reportedly proceeded very slowly for another block
while the two occupants were seen quickly moving around the cab of the
pickup. A search of the man allegedly turned up a burned spoon
with white residue and a hypodermic syringe. Another syringe with a
liquid believed to be Meth was allegedly found under the passenger seat.
The woman later allegedly turned over a baggie of Meth she had hidden in
her sock.
In Oregon - The Lane County District Attorney reports that the
deaths of two young men had one thing in common: Meth. The two, one 29
and the other 33, didn’t know each other, but they were both high on
Meth and in trouble with the law when they died, 18-days apart. The
29-year-old died of a heart attack Nov. 25 in the Lane County Jail after
struggling violently with as many as seven sheriff's deputies. The
33-year-old killed himself with a shotgun Nov. 7 after stealing a motor
home and leading police on a chase. Medical examiners' reports on their
deaths show the 29-year-old died with 1,004 nanograms of Meth per
milliliter in his bloodstream; the medical examiner said his death was
an accident, and his cause of death was "sudden cardiac arrest following
protracted struggle with multiple law enforcement officers in a person
exhibiting excited delirium." The other man’s blood had a Meth
concentration of 1,327 nanograms per milliliter. The medical examiner
ruled his death a suicide by shotgun blast to the head. A clinical
toxicologist with Oregon Medical Labs described the levels of Meth found
in the men's blood as consistent with "a very high dose." By way of
comparison, a single small dose of Meth - 8 milligrams - would cause a
peak concentration level of 20 nanograms per milliliter in a 150-pound
person.
In Maryland - Anne Arundel County police officers raided what
they termed a "fully functioning" Meth lab in a trailer and arrested a
43-year-old man in a nearby residence. Police believe the lab was linked
to a Meth lab that authorities dismantled in August. Detectives busted
the lab expecting to find only a user lab - a small operation designed
just to produce Meth for the cook and maybe a friend. But when they
broke down the door to the lab, detectives found an aggressive
Rottweiler - which the officers shot and killed - and a lab that took up
half of the building.
Police learned of the lab after a citizen's tip. A cashier at a
convenience store called police to report a woman repeatedly buying
matches, distilled water, lye and iodine, all of which are used to make
Meth.The suspect was charged with manufacturing Meth, possession of Meth
with the intent to distribute, and possession of Meth. He rented the
home and reportedly lived there with another adult and an estimated five
children. The landlord reported that she had no idea that Meth was being
manufactured on her property, and police said they are not investigating
her for any wrongdoing. But she is worried about how the bust and
negative publicity associated with it would affect a horseback riding
business also on the property. There are at least two riding rings on
the land - one only feet away from the trailer where the lab was found.
Police believe a local man is teaching people how to manufacture Meth
and is the mastermind behind this and another of the three labs busted
in the county in the past four months. A federal warrant has been
issued for his arrest.
Dec. 16
In North Dakota - A Washington state man who authorities say led a
drug trafficking ring has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The
32-year-old was one of three people sentenced during hearings in federal
court. Ten of the 13 people charged in the indictment have been
sentenced. He pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a continuing
criminal enterprise. Prosecutors dropped nine other drug-related charges
and offered a 20-year sentence instead of life in prison for his pledge
to provide "substantial assistance." He hired "runners" to ship Meth
from Washington and Montana and bodyguards to accompany him to the Fargo
area, where he picked up drug money, authorities said. In all, his ring
sold about 15,000 grams of Meth for about $320,000.
In Utah – DEA agents busted a
possible Meth lab after confronting a 38-year-old man who had barricaded
himself in a backyard shed. According to officers’ reports, they
knocked on the shed’s door and did not get a response. There were three
locks on the shed, so they fired a special non-lethal shotgun to break
the locks. The suspect was hit by shrapnel and taken to a hospital for
treatment of minor injuries. Officers then found the makings of a Meth
lab in the shed. The suspect is either the son of the homeowners or a
relative. The homeowners will not be charged; police believe they did
not know Meth was being manufactured on their property.
Dec. 15
In South Carolina - The Greenwood County Sheriff's Office announced
the completion of a six-month investigation into Meth distribution, and
began arresting what the Sheriff said would be "at least 30 suspects" in
a roundup. He reported that the ring has imported more than 150 pounds
of Meth into the county this year. Investigators were able to identify
the head of a Meth distribution ring that supplied dealers in three
counties. They also uncovered a web of crimes related to the ring,
including uncovered a utility trailer theft ring, a chop shop for stolen
cars and a counterfeiter. Among the suspects arrested, officers picked
up a nurse and a promotional writer.
In Florida - An entire wing of a
Super 8 motel in Lake City is closed down after a fire started by a
suspect attempting to cook Meth in a room. (See Related Story Dec. 14)
The actual fire only damaged a handful of rooms. But code enforcement
employees say fumes from the chemicals used to make Meth may have
contaminated 40 or 50 more, forcing the motel's owner to close down an
entire wing. The building has been turned over to the owner to
clean up the mess and comply with safety standards.
In Arizona - Chandler police arrested a man for drug possession and
what appears to be a Meth lab in his home. Officers found three pounds
of Meth worth $30,000, along with several weapons and drug-making
equipment in a home while executing a search warrant. The 33-year-old
homeowner was arrested. At the time of the arrest, the suspect’s
seven-month-old baby was in the home and was taken into protective
custody. A short time after police arrived, the suspect’s girlfriend
returned home with her five-year-old. That child was also taken into
custody.
In Florida - Bay County Sheriff’s Deputies stopped to investigate a
man standing next to a car in a darkened area and ended up with a mobile
Meth lab bust. A 26-year-old man was arrested when deputies discovered
he had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a domestic
violence charge. A search of his car turned up what initially appeared
to be powdered Meth and the components of a Meth lab. Investigators
believe the suspect had been cooking and was in the process of shopping
local stores and gathering more chemicals to cook again.
