DRUG LAB FOUND IN HILLS

Empty convent: Police unsure who was running vast setup that could
have produced $1 million worth of methamphetamine at abandoned Los
Gatos campus.

Police and drug enforcement officers Thursday were still figuring out
who set up an extensive methamphetamine lab in an abandoned convent in
the Los Gatos hills and how it could have operated for months without
being noticed.

Authorities on Wednesday were called to the remote Guadalupe College
campus where they found 50 pounds of raw drug material in the process
of being cooked into methamphetamine in the lab.

Security officers from the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District,
on routine patrol in the area, noticed an open door in one of the
buildings and called police. A closer look by officers and members of
the Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement Team and state Bureau
of Narcotics Enforcement uncovered a sophisticated drug lab in what
used to be the campus' sprawling kitchen.

The lab had spread into several adjoining rooms, essentially filling
the former college's first floor, according to Sgt. Tam McCarty of the
Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department. Had the process been
completed it would have yielded enough methamphetamine to draw about
$1 million on the street, he said.

McCarty said someone was seen walking in the area, but police were not
able to determine if the man had any relationship to the lab. No
suspects were found at the campus buildings, and police are still
trying to determine who set up the lab.

``What a gold mine they had going up there,'' McCarty said. ``It was
probably going on for a few months. I guess the bad guys are running
out of places (to set up labs), and no community is immune from
operations like this.''

McCarty said the lab is the biggest illegal drug operation officers
have seen in Los Gatos. Four years ago, a crude methamphetamine lab
exploded in a small bedroom of a tract home, injuring the homeowner
who had created the lab. No such incidents have been reported at the
old convent. But after the lab was discovered, neighbors at the bottom
of Foster Road told police there was often ``a lot of activity'' in
and out of the college property.

One neighbor said the abandoned property seemed to lure teenagers.
Another said a group of teens took video cameras onto the property to
use the empty buildings as a backdrop for a film.

McCarty said, however, that no one had ever called police to report
any suspicious activity at the site.

Officers spent late Wednesday night cleaning out the methamphetamine
lab and dusting for fingerprints. In addition to the drug
paraphernalia, they found fire extinguishers, bags of ice used to cool
the drugs once they were ``cooked'' and books describing the handling
of dangerous chemicals.

Those who operated the lab apparently used a residential road next to
the convent's locked main gate on Foster Road to travel to the campus.
McCarty said they may have driven their cars as far as they could up
the residential road, parked, then hiked to the college building.

The former convent run by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin
Mary opened in 1964 to house and educate women preparing to be nuns.

But by 1970, the number of women in the religious order declined
dramatically and the college, visible in the east hills to those
driving south on Highway 17, closed its doors.

Plans to tear down the college and build five luxury homes slowly have
been moving through Los Gatos' planning process. No date has been set
for the building's demolition.

Mercury News Staff Writer Rodney Foo contributed to this report.
Contact Connie Skipitares at cskipitares@sjmercury.com or (408) 343-4526.