OFFICIALS SAY METHAMPHETAMINE WAS BEING TEST-MARKETED

Brown County Authorities Alarmed By Large Seizure

The arrests this week in Brown County that led to the largest seizure of
methamphetamine in Wisconsin is alarming because of the amount of the drug
and the reason it was brought to the area, authorities said Thursday.

Law enforcement authorities said the confiscation of 37 pounds of the drug
- - with a street value of $1.5 million - is alarming because the drug was
brought in to "test-market" the area in anticipation of eventually moving
larger quantities. State drug officials have said the presence of
methamphetamines is mainly concentrated in the western area of the state.

"Things tightened up in that area, and it is coming into other areas,"
Brown County Sheriff Tom Hinz said.

"Finding one pound is unusual. Finding this much at one time is amazing,"
said Pete Thelen, special agent for the state Department of Narcotics
Enforcement. "You can make it by the ounce in home labs, but to make this
much at one time would mean a very, very large lab."

Lt. Gary Van Straten of the Brown County Sheriff's Department said
authorities don't believe the drugs were made in the area and probably came
from Mexico.

One of the department's undercover agents was approached and asked to see
if he could move an ounce of the drug, said Van Straten, who is assigned to
the Brown County Drug Unit.

"They didn't make him pay for it; they wanted him to test the waters," Van
Straten said. "It's big business, I guess it is worth test-marketing. Then
he called and said it was gone and they brought six more ounces - and they
fronted it. When they came back to collect the money, we arrested them."

Van Straten's undercover agent delivered $4,500 to the men and the suspects
were then arrested Tuesday. Charges are expected to be filed today against
a 24-year-old Valders man and a 36-year-old Kansas City man.

Authorities found 37 pounds of methamphetamines on the property belonging
to the Valders man. A Two Rivers man, Jose Chavez-Lazares, 20, was charged
in Manitowoc County on Wednesday with possession of cocaine with intent to
deliver. Authorities said the suspects delivered the drugs to the
undercover agent. Different men came to pick up the money.

Chavez-Lazares had a little more than 288 grams, or 10 ounces, of cocaine
in his car with a street value of $15,000.

"There have been instances where dealers selling cocaine will be approached
and asked if they can start moving some meth, too," Thelen said. "That may
or may not be what was going to happen here. We call it 'Mexican Meth'; . .
. much of it is manufactured in Mexico, where there is no regulation of the
so-called precursor drugs needed to make the drugs, and they can set up
large labs and make large quantities."

Van Straten said the drugs were in one-pound blocks prepared for resale.

"The average person has no idea, unless they have a family member who is
involved, in the amount of drugs out there on the street," Hinz said. "In
the past we've found a gram or two. As I said, this is just amazing."