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.

AS POPULATION SOARS, SO DOES METH PROBLEM

For the last four years, Lyon County has been the fastest-growing
county in Nevada.

It was also recently ranked second in the nation for per-capita
growth for counties with populations of 10,000 or more. The
population grew 34 percent from 2000 to 2005, when the number of
residents exceeded 52,000.

And as the county's population has surged, so has its methamphetamine problem.

According to Lt. Bob Sherlock, supervisor for the Lyon County
Sheriff's Office four-person Narcotics Division, most of the drug
team's work is aimed at methamphetamine investigations. Between 2004
and 2005, meth arrests were up 52 percent, investigations up 27
percent, search warrants up 136 percent, complaints up 66 percent and
street value of drugs seized up 83 percent.

Sherlock calls it a methamphetamine epidemic.

"Years before the unit started (in 2000), there was a meth problem; a
real drain on the system," Sherlock said. "Our goal is to drop the
crime rate. Major crimes here are centered around meth. If we put a
dent in drug use and sales, then there's going to be a decrease in crime."

Narcotics officers say they don't have enough resources to crack down
on all of the meth traffickers and dealers in the large rural area.
There are some Lyon County deputies assigned to Tri-Net, a Nevada
Department of Public Safety regional anti-drug unit. Sherlock's unit,
though, focuses on Lyon County only.

Sherlock said a national law enforcement grant, The Rocky Mountain
Information Network, has been invaluable in combating the narcotics
problem in the county. Since 2001, the grant has provided $5,000 a
year to be used for narcotic buys, paying informants and funding
undercover stings.

"We work the street-level dealers, but we'll also take you to jail if
we catch you with a (drug) pipe," said Deputy Chris Miller.

Despite its limited resources, the narcotics team made its largest
drug bust in January. A three-month investigation led to the arrest
an illegal alien who officers said headed a meth-distribution ring.
They also arrested male and female dealers and traffickers ages 45 to
60, and recovered $36,500 worth of meth.

During a recent search of a motorcycle group's clubhouse in Fernley
and of some of its associates' residences, deputies found meth along
with marijuana, paraphernalia and firearms.

Most problems in Fernley

During its five-year existence, the narcotics division has conducted
703 investigations, served 164 search warrants, arrested 668 people
and recovered drugs that had a street value of more than $1.1
million. It's also seized more than $212,000 in drug money.

Most of the drug complaints investigated originated from Fernley,
with Mason Valley ranking second and Silver Springs third. Fernley
residents also topped drug arrests, with Silver Springs second and
Mason Valley third.

Out of all the drugs seized the last five years, methamphetamine is
tops behind marijuana in terms of volume: About 8 pounds of meth was
recovered compared to 116.2 pounds of marijuana.

The unit during the past five years also found 12 meth labs,
including three active ones. During the last six months of 2003 and
January 2004, five labs were found.

Miller said even the county's children are being victimized. Children
of meth users, he said, usually live in squalor with no supervision.

"A 12-year-old after one of my meth presentations came up to me and
said their parents have pipes like the ones I showed them," he said.
"The parents are awake 72 hours and pull out (car) engines in their
living rooms. Food is spoiled and animal feces are everywhere.

"They let their kids be exposed to other users) it's a God awful mess."

Deputy Matt Roman added that it's not just unemployed and uneducated
people getting arrested for using and selling meth.

"Professional people are getting involved with the stuff," he said.

In 2002, the wife of a Lyon County deputy was arrested on charges she
possessed meth and provided the drug to a juvenile.

Same problems as elsewhere

The rural Lyon County meth problem mirrors larger communities' problems.

"Our problems are the same as Reno, just on a smaller scale," Miller
said. "But we have just as many. If you walk across the street to the
casino, I can point out five people who are using."

Besides not having enough deputies on his team, Sherlock said another
downfall in fighting meth in Lyon County is the lack of highway drug
interdiction. Interstate 80 and Highways 95 and 40 are major roads
through the county.

"They're not being monitored enough," he said. "We are missing a
whole lot, millions (of dollars worth of drugs). Dope comes from one
way and travels down another."

But even more deputies might not eliminate the problem.

"Everyone is trying to find the answer to the meth problem," he said.
"No one knows what it is. It's difficult. We go out and talk to kids
and tell them the dangers and they go home and their parents are smoking meth.

"That's who they're looking up to, not us."