Fighting Back: The Meth Epidemic ( Part 4 of 4 )

POLICE FOCUS ON METH MAKERS' LATE-NIGHT ANHYDROUS THEFTS

On a recent Tuesday night in Daviess County, six armed men wearing camouflage and carrying binoculars and night vision goggles lay waiting in the fields and tree lines surrounding one of the front lines in the methamphetamine battle.

The men, all deputies and investigators with the Daviess County Sheriff's Department, were conducting what has become an occasional overnight assignment: stakeouts of anhydrous ammonia tanks.

Deputies were looking for individuals or teams of people who approach the 1,000-gallon "nurse" tanks of anhydrous and bleed the highly pressurized substance into propane tanks.  The farm fertilizer is a necessary ingredient among the most common meth-making recipe in western Kentucky.

The surveillance efforts occur several random nights each month and take place throughout the year, said sheriff's Detective Mike Pearre.  Some of the surveillance equipment is on loan from other agencies, while other items have been purchased through grants, said Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain.

Anhydrous is a gas, but it takes a liquid form when stored in pressurized tanks.  In addition to being an explosive gas, the temperature of the pressurized anhydrous is about 30 degrees below zero, which together pose serious safety problems.

Under the shroud of darkness, Daviess County Sheriff Department's Detective Jeff Jones scans the horizon for potential anhydrous ammonia thieves with thermal heat imaging glasses recently while hidden in a farmer's field in Daviess County.  "There is no pattern with them," Jones said.  "They come here during the day, night, in pairs or singles; it doesn't matter." Photo by John Dunham, M-I

Farm supply businesses scattered throughout Daviess County are frequent surveillance targets, but individual tanks are occasionally watched, said Sheriff's Lt.  Jeff Jones.  During most of the year the tanks are stored on the business lots.  During the spring, farmers throughout the county have individual tanks of anhydrous in their fields overnight.

Narcotics investigators with the Owensboro Police Department have raided homes in the city that housed meth operations.  The people gathering anhydrous are often as well equipped as police, said Officer Scott Norris with the street crimes unit.  Frequently, night vision goggles and four wheelers are found at meth labs.  The equipment is used to cross fields and steal anhydrous at night.

In addition to night vision technology, sheriff's investigators frequently seize police scanners and two-way radios from late-night anhydrous thieves, Jones said.  Many of the people arrested in the act are wearing dark clothes or camouflage clothing, he said.

Representatives of the farm supply businesses said they appreciate the surveillance efforts to cut down on theft, reduce dangerous gas leaks at the businesses and fight the spread of meth.

Southern States Cooperative on Carter Road has all its anhydrous tanks secured behind a locked fence at night and uses a security system, said manager Greg Simpson.

The company tries to have all anhydrous tanks returned before dark, but often that is unrealistic, Simpson said.  Still, it seems that tanks returned are less likely to have the telltale theft signs of a hose and duct tape than they did five years ago, he said.

"I feel that the police department is doing all they can do," Simpson said.  "There's just such a problem, it's really phenomenal.  I don't know the answer how to make it quit."

Most of the thefts from tanks occur deep in the woods where individual tanks are temporarily stored by farmers, Simpson said.

During the night that a Messenger-Inquirer reporter accompanied the investigators, the grounds and business property of a southern Daviess County anhydrous dealer were watched for four overnight hours.  No arrests were made.  During the incident, an anhydrous tank at the business was spotted with a black hose and tape, where a thief had recently siphoned anhydrous, possibly in the past 24 hours.

The stakeouts are largely hit-or-miss with the efforts either resulting in no arrests or multiple people being charged.

"We won't catch them unless we're out there," Cain said.  "I think it's incumbent upon us to be proactive."

The locations and times of the department's stakeouts are secret, but investigators do not mind the public or anhydrous thieves knowing the tanks are being watched.  The stakeouts are one of many initiatives to eradicate or reduce meth use, Jones said.

More than 70 people have been arrested by the sheriff's department during the surveillance efforts since 2001, Jones said.

Seeking allies

When the first attempts to spread awareness about meth and anhydrous theft began in the late 1990s, there was a bit of resistance among farmers and anhydrous dealers, Cain said.  Many farmers viewed securing the tanks of fertilizer as a hassle, he said.

Since then they have become cooperative and are an important ally, he said.

The security at businesses that sell tanks of anhydrous largely fluctuates.  Southern States relies on a fence and security system, while other locations such as Royster-Clark in Utica do not have any fence and border a well traveled road.

Street crimes supervisor Sgt.  Brock Peterson said Owensboro police could benefit by the creation of a law that would make it illegal to possess hoses, clamps and other tools with the intent of stealing anhydrous.  That law could be similar to an existing law which makes it illegal to possess burglary tools.

Cain said that he worked with the Kentucky legislature during the 2004 session with hopes of passing a law that would require anhydrous dealers to have their tanks secured.  Efforts were also under way during the past legislative session to create stricter penalties for people who allow small children to be around a meth lab.  Efforts to make both bills into laws were unsuccessful, he said.

Research efforts are under way at Johns Hopkins University that would add a chemical to anhydrous that would render it useless for meth makers, Cain said.

People who are injured when they steal the chemical can be treated at a decontamination station at Owensboro Medical Health System, but law enforcement is no longer notified of those suspicious injuries because of confidentiality concerns surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, said former Detective Sgt.  Jim Acquisto, who recently retired from the sheriff's department.

There remains a safety threat to thieves and to police who may have to deal with a leaking anhydrous tank or a cracked valve, Cain said.  The potential of an explosion or having shots fired near the tanks is a continuing concern, Cain said.