Snap 11-01-07

Methamphetamine Awareness and Prevention Project of South Dakota

METH Awareness And Prevention Project of South Dakota

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Nov. 1, 2007

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Firefighters initially responded to reports of white smoke at an apartment building but became suspicious when the people inside the unit refused to let them in. Eventually police were able to gain entrance and discovered a Meth lab. A man and woman are facing charges.

In Oregon – Five people were arrested after an undercover investigation into alleged Meth trafficking. A SWAT team executed a search warrant on a home after weeks of investigation. Officers found Meth and cash in the house and arrested three people. Information from the raid led police to make controlled buys, and two more suspects were arrested. The group, ranging in age from 17-years-old up to 40, face charges that include delivery of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, frequenting a drug house and various parole and probation violations.

In Florida – Sheriff’s deputies busted a home Meth lab in a quiet subdivision. A search warrant turned up the lab and more than 10-grams of reddish Meth. A 40-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested at the scene.

In Montana - A 26-year-old woman pleaded guilty to federal Meth trafficking and firearms charges that could send her to prison for 15 years. She admitted her role in a conspiracy to possess Meth for distribution and to possessing a firearm during drug trafficking. In exchange for her guilty plea, nine other counts will be dismissed at sentencing. She told investigators that she used Meth three times a day for three years.

In Texas - Court documents revealed that a five-month-old girl taken from her mother after she allegedly shot an officer in the neck tested positive for Meth. The mother, 19-years-old, was holding a gun in one hand and her baby in the other hand during a raid on a home. The woman allegedly shot the officer and then used her baby as a shield. Authorities believe the suspect was using Meth, and the child did test positive for the drug. They suspect the Meth was transferred to the baby during breastfeeding. The woman is charged with attempting to kill a police officer; and the police department said they are also considering charges related to the treatment of her child.

In Minnesota - A 26-year-old man was arrested after reportedly selling Meth to an undercover officer three times. He is charged with two counts of first-degree sale of Meth. The first sale involved a half-ounce of Meth inside a baggie tucked into a cigarette pack; the second buy was a full ounce of Meth. In the last deal, the suspect allegedly gave the undercover officer four individually wrapped bags of Meth, each approximately one ounce. When he was arrested, the suspect gave police a half-pound of Meth he was keeping at his home.

In Missouri - A house that police had been watching exploded when a resident allegedly was trying to make Meth. The 30-year-old man, his mother and his 7-year-old daughter all escaped the house without injury. The garage explosion happened before dawn, and the man woke up his mother, who then woke the girl before flames engulfed a large portion of the house. The child was visiting her grandma at the time, and was returned to her mother. The investigation turned up evidence that the man was making his own anhydrous ammonia. He is charged with first-degree arson and manufacturing a controlled substance. The suspect apparently tried to hide and scatter the Meth-related materials throughout the yard and inside various vehicles before police arrived.

In Kansas – The man convicted of killing a sheriff received the death penalty. The jury took less than two hours to agree on the sentence for the 26-year-old man. The judge, who must approve the verdict, will hold the sentencing hearing in late January. The defendant shot the sheriff in 2005, at a secluded house where he was running a Meth lab. The sheriff was serving arrest warrants when he was killed.

In Minnesota - Investigators arrested a 38-year-old woman after a search of her home turned up 12.6-grams of Meth and 73.5-grams of marijuana. She faces possible charges of second-degree possession of a controlled substance, fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance and child endangerment.

In Arkansas – An officer looking for a man wanted on forgery charges did not find his suspect, but detected a strong chemical odor associated with Meth manufacturing. The officer talked to the man inside the home and, acting on information from that talk, got a search warrant for the property. Police, sheriff’s deputies and agents from the DEA searched the home and discovered Meth making evidence in several rooms, including the kitchen, living room and bathroom. They also found the man and his wife in the process of cooking Meth. Two .22-caliber rifles and a functioning surveillance monitor that displayed the front door of the house were seized. The monitor was receiving a feed from a surveillance camera mounted on a telephone pole in the front yard of the home. The man and woman were both arrested.

In Michigan - A man faces a potential life sentence after a jury found him guilty for running a Meth lab in a hotel. He was convicted of numerous charges related to operating and maintaining a Meth lab and of being a habitual offender. He was found not guilty of child abuse. Officers arrested the defendant when they discovered the Meth lab in the hotel room, where the man was staying with his girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter. The defendant testified that he was trying to unclog the drains in his bathroom using a homemade Drano mixture, but admitted that he had smoked Meth before he was arrested.

In Louisiana - Deputies investigating a robbery found the victim, the suspect and a Meth lab. Officers were doing a follow-up investigation of a robbery at a home when the female victim and the accused robber arrived at the house - together. Investigators saw items associated with Meth manufacturing outside the residence and called for narcotics agents to inspect the scene. A search warrant yielded jars of an unknown liquid substance and hazardous, combustible chemicals. The 55-year-old woman homeowner, and victim of the robbery, was arrested and charged with possessing items to manufacture Meth. A 37-year-old man was arrested and charged with armed robbery.