Snap 07-31-07

Methamphetamine Awareness and Prevention Project of South Dakota

METH Awareness And Prevention Project of South Dakota

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July 31, 2007

In Hawaii - A 38-year-old man who led police on at least two chases, accidentally ran over a woman and was caught with more than an ounce of Meth received a 25-year prison sentence – 20-years for Meth possession and an additional five for heroin possession. In return for his guilty plea, a number of other charges were dropped. He had already pleaded guilty to driving while high on Meth in an accident case from 2005. He crashed a rental car into the back of a motorcycle. A woman passenger on the cycle was thrown off and run over by the defendant before he had a chance to stop.

In Mississippi - A three-year-old girl discovered a cooler near her grandfather's house. Her grandfather opened the cooler and was overcome by chemical smells. The cooler was full of Meth-making waste products. Police are trying to track down where it came from; neither the child nor her grandfather were hurt.

In Oregon – In two separate raids during July, deputies in one county have found fruit-flavored Meth crystals, nicknamed Strawberry Quick. An officer with the sheriff's department said there was no evidence that the Meth had been marketed to children. The strawberry additive (or as in some cases, other flavors) adds a sweetness to help mask the strong, bitter, acidic flavor users experience when they inhale the Meth. Nationwide, the flavored crystals have been reported in Washington, California and Idaho, along with some states in the Midwest and South.

In Washington - A man walking around, picking up change at a gas station found a cloth wallet dropped on the property. He took the wallet, unopened, to a station employee, who called sheriff's deputies. Investigators checking out the wallet opened it to find a driver's license belonging a 24-year-old man – along with a plastic bag, with a Batman logo on one side. The bag held a small amount of Meth. Deputies were unable to contact the man, but they did reach his Department of Corrections officer.

In Tennessee - Sheriff's deputies arrested two men after seeing them toss items from their car when officers tried to pull them over. The items, including a plastic container, were part of a mobile Meth lab. The container was being used as a pill soak – one part of the Meth making process. The deputies found other Meth manufacturing items inside the car after it eventually pulled over.

In Illinois – Members of a Drug Task Force received a tip that led them to an operating Meth lab in a home. They spent nearly 12-hours processing evidence at the scene and arrested three, unrelated, people in the house.

In Missouri - Officers arriving at a trailer near a home saw one person running into a house, another running out and a third person inside the trailer. Deputies could smell the chemical fumes associated with Meth production coming from the trailer; two of the people were arrested. A day later, a body was discovered in the house adjacent to that trailer. The person's adult child called authorities because his father had been missing for several days. When deputies arrived, they smelled a foul odor at the house and discovered the man in the attic. While authorities are waiting for a coroner’s report on the cause of death, the investigation into the alleged Meth lab led officers to another house where they arrested two more people on Meth charges. Officials say the investigation is continuing and they expect more arrests soon.

In Tennessee – Three people were arrested in a Meth delivery scheme and there is a warrant out for another man’s arrest. Authorities say they noticed a suspicious package shipped by UPS. Agents took an x-ray of the package and determined it held illegal drugs. They set up surveillance and arrested the man who picked up the package – which turned out to be Meth. The man who picked up the package and two others who were involved in the plan were arrested; officers are searching for the man who was sent the package.

In Mississippi - A narcotics task force discovered more than 30 Meth manufacturing dumpsites in a wooded area. It is the same area where a 9-year-old boy suffered burns and a serious eye injury after he found a duffel bag that contained Meth making chemicals exploded in his face. The wooded area adjoins a FEMA housing site where several children live. The recent discoveries came after officers questioned two men arrested in the abandoned duffel bag case. One of the suspects drew a map that led to the dumpsites, including one in a duffel bag. Scattered throughout the woods were other signs of Meth-making, including scorched pieces of two-liter plastic soft-drink bottles that were charred and melted from explosions. The same type of bottle, containing the same type of chemicals, is what exploded in the youngster’s face and is similar to the concoction Timothy McVeigh used to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Doctors say the nine-year-old must have at least three surgeries to repair the damage to his eye, including a corneal transplant.