MOTELS ARE BECOMING POPULAR SITES FOR METH LABS, POLICE SAY

Police think they've done a good job educating people about how to spot a
drug lab operating in their neighborhoods but they say that's led more
methamphetamine manufacturers to set up labs in Jefferson County motel rooms.

On Tuesday police raided a suspected meth lab in room 203 of the Super 8
Motel in Pevely. Police say they seized about four grams of meth and
several drug ingredients. Late last month, police took down another
suspected lab at the Drury Inn in Festus. Five men and three women, all
residents of Jefferson County, were arrested in the two raids.

Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said the technique of using motel rooms was
becoming common.

"They sign in under a fake name, pay cash and immediately start putting
their precursor (ingredients) together," Lewis said. "If they think someone
is on to them, they're ready to go. When we get there, all we have is the
fake name they used to check in."

Methamphetamine, often called crystal or crank, is an easy-to-make
stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, swallowed or injected. It's made
largely from legal ingredients such as over-the-counter cold pills and
ether. The process used to make the drug gives off a harsh chemical odor,
but police say so-called meth cooks can conceal the tell-tale scent in
hotel and motel rooms.

Cooks cover door cracks with wet towels and they open the room's windows.
Sometimes, they bring their own fans to help ventilate the room. Since most
other guests keep their windows shut and the room's air conditioning
operating, "they wouldn't know some guys are making meth next door," Lewis
said.

Detective James Jones, the commander of Jefferson County's narcotics task
force, said that drug makers often used motel rooms as gathering places
where they prepared ingredients, which could take hours, before going
somewhere else to cook the drug.

Jones said that's what would have happened at the Super 8 Motel last week
if police hadn't receive a tip.

While the motel was under surveillance, a car drove up. Jones said that the
driver had tried to speed away when he saw police but that authorities had
stopped the vehicle and had seized several meth ingredients and instruments.

Police knocked on the door of the driver's girlfriend, who was staying at
the motel. Jones said police had found about four grams of meth. Shortly
afterward, a second car carrying two men and a woman pulled into the
motel's parking lot. Police arrested all of the occupants, who allegedly
were bringing more ingredients to the room.

Jones said that police were investigating whether the group arrested at the
motel could be connected with one of the county's larger meth gangs.

"They weren't particularly sophisticated and they didn't do a very good job
concealing what they were going to do," Jones said. "But the truth is that
for every group we catch in a motel, there are five we don't catch."

Jones said motel meth posed special dangers. If the drug is made there, it
puts other guests in danger if a lab explodes or if cooks try to fight off
a police raid. He said that when meth was cooked in a motel room, the room
was contaminated with toxic residue that could affect people who would stay
in the room for several days thereafter.

"I think the scary thing is when people cook meth in a motel room and we
don't find out about it and the manager doesn't find out about it," he
said. "The next night a family could rent the room, with their baby
crawling on the same spot where they spilled ether the night before."

Police said that motel guests and employees should be on the lookout for
people who could be using rented rooms to manufacture the drug. Jones said
motels should be suspicious if a guest paid in cash, received visitors late
at night and brought lots of luggage for a one-night stay. He said other
tip-offs included harsh odors or strange garbage - including batteries, gas
tanks and cold-medicine packages - in room and hall trash cans or in motel
trash bins.

"For the most part, the hotel and motel staffs have been very cooperative,"
Jones said. "They don't want this going on in their rooms. At the very
least they know having a bunch of cops arresting people at a hotel can't be
good for business."

Attempts to contact the manager of the Super 8 Motel and Drury Inn were
unsuccessful.

Dave Stoll, a manager at the Holiday Inn Express in Festus, said that
employees there were on the lookout for anyone who might be using rooms for
any criminal purposes. He said that police had taught hotel staff members
how to spot possible meth cooks and that officers patrolled the hotel
regularly.