Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

HYSTERICAL TERROR IS THE NORM WHEN METH ADDICTS FACE JAIL

A 25-year-old felon in February had an appointment with probation
officer Kara Kelly in Reno that included a drug test.

When Christopher Tallman was told he would be jailed because his
urine tested positive for methamphetamine, he flew into a panicked
rage. He lunged for the officer's handgun and the two fell into a
violent scuffle that ended when the officer shot Tallman in the head
and killed him.

The incident is an example not only of the prevalence of meth use
with convicted felons, authorities say, but the hysterical terror
meth addicts feel when faced with being incarcerated again.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin Erickson, who prosecutes
habitual criminals with at least three felonies, said most of her
cases are connected to meth.

"Meth is so common," she said. "It seems like at every sentencing
hearing they say they have a horrible drug problem, usually meth, and
need help despite having numerous opportunities."

Violent reactions

Convicted murderer Robert Dean Ellsworth, 45, remained free for just
a year before he was arrested in 2004 on meth and weapons charges.
Ellsworth, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole
for murdering a pharmacist in 1988, was spotted entering a casino --
a violation of his parole -- and police tried to arrest him.

But when confronted, he reached in his waistband for a loaded stolen
pistol before officers subdued him. Court records showed he had a
meth addiction and was unemployed at the time, but he was sent to
federal prison and remains there on the weapons violation.

"Unless they really want to kick their drug habit, it will be
difficult for them to leave their life of crime as long as they are
addicted and don't get treatment," Erickson said. "They can't hold
down a job and the only way to score their next fix is to steal. Each
has his own bottom, but it seems meth addicts will do anything as
long as they can get it."

Erickson said most of her meth-related cases involve felons stealing
things from retail stores to trade for drugs. Many commit robberies
or burglaries.

Maury Reichelt, a Nevada parole and probation officer, said felons
who are addicted to meth are like Tallman --- paranoid and violent.

"We deal with these people all the time when they are sober and we
get to know them," he said. "But when they're on meth, we can't
reason with them. They are crying, upset and violent. If we try to
arrest them, they don't want to go. They flat out say 'I won't go.'"

A risk to themselves and the community

In 2003, John McCoy Jr., a 23-year-old auto thief high on meth, tried
to ram police cars and run over an officer before he was shot to
death in a convenience store parking lot.

Part of the problem, Reichelt said, is that meth addicts stay up for
days at a time and become paranoid.

"One guy had drilled two waist-high holes the size of a finger in a
garage door and the officer asked him why," Reichelt said. "He said
when he was doing drugs he thought neighbors were out to get him and
he was able to look at them at all hours."

Sometimes their psychosis can cause injury, as well as death, the
parole officer said.

"Another guy thought I knew he just used and I was going to drug test
him so he didn't show up," he said. "A week later I get a call
there's a guy on the roof yelling that I am out to get him in a
little red car down the street.

"Officers had a hard time getting him to come down ... he finally
jumped off, landed on one leg, breaking it in half, but that didn't
stop him from running," he said. "Pepper spray didn't stop him,
neither did being shot with a Taser. Three officers had to take him
in custody. He was a threat to his own safety."

Like Ellsworth, some felons possess firearms, which is illegal, and
can pose an added risk to the community and parole and probation officers.

"The speech I give them is no weapons, nunchakus, anything that
Jackie Chan has, you can't have ... no baseball bats, butcher knives
or vicious dogs with no collar," he said. "But that won't guarantee
they won't be armed."

In other incidents:

Elliot had served in the military and was awarded two Bronze Stars
for valor. He said he committed his crimes after using drugs to
escape reality both here and in the Gulf War in 1990 and Somalia in
1992-93. When officers confronted him, police said, Elliot pointed a
gun at them because he wanted them to fatally shoot him so he
wouldn't be sent back to jail.

Elliot had been wearing a police hat, badge and pins. He was shot
with a Taser gun and taken into custody. He had methamphetamine in
his possession, police said, although he had graduated from the
county's drug court program. He was sentenced to serve more than 13 years.