METH DUMP FIRE FOUND IN GROVE

3 Waste Sites Discovered In Madera

MADERA - A toxic waste dump big enough to have produced $300,000
worth of illegal methamphetamine smoldered Monday in an orchard less
than three miles from Children's Hospital Central California.

It was one of three meth waste dumps reported Monday in Madera County,
but the only one on fire. Waste in the three dumps could have produced
about $800,000 worth of the illegal drug.

Monday's first dumpsite was found by an orange grower about 8:30 a.m.
A pile of waste was burning among the trees on Road 38 just north of
Avenue 9.

Environmental health officials said the smoke and fumes quickly
dispersed in the air. But the grower was warned about some of the
orange crop on trees near the smoldering materials, said Madera County
Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart.

Cleanup crews carted away four 55-gallon drums of waste from the site.
They also found 15 pounds of red phosphorous, which Stuart said is
highly flammable, toxic and cancer-causing.

Since January, officers have cleaned up 20 meth lab dumps in Madera
County. That's about the same number as this time last year, Stuart
said.

Narcotics officers also reported the weekend arrests of four people
and the seizure of an estimated $1,000 worth of methamphetamine.
Officers said a tip led them to a home about four blocks from the
Madera County Jail.

Officers identified the suspects at the residence, on Avenue 14
between Roads 281/2 and 29, as Rosaleo Hernandez, 25, Lilliana
Venazuela, 21, Raul Hernandez, 26, and Jorge Rodriguez, 32.

No connection was reported between the weekend arrests and Monday's
dumpsite finds. In addition to 4 ounces of pure methamphetamine,
officers found a tub of MSN at the Avenue 14 address, they said.

At midday Monday, narcotics agents reported that a white plastic bag
with about 5 gallons of methamphetamine waste was found beside Road 14
about a quarter-mile south of Avenue 25 in the Chowchilla area. The
bag reportedly contained 3 ounces of red phosphorous along with lye
and packs of pseudoephedrine.

It was the third "mom and pop" meth dump found in the area in the past
six months. Officers believe the smaller amounts of waste were
generated during the manufacture of meth for personal use rather than
mass sales, Stuart said.

What officers described as a "super meth lab" dumpsite was reported
about 2 p.m. Monday in a western Madera County vineyard near
Firebaugh. Seven bags of meth leftovers were counted at this dumpsite
on Avenue 6 near Road 16.

Two bags of the waste, estimated to have produced $500,000 of meth,
were floating in a canal. Officers suspected it was from a drug cartel
lab, Stuart said.

"When they're not growing marijuana, they're manufacturing
methamphetamine," Stuart said about cartels.