DRUGS FOUND ON JANKLOW'S RENTAL PROPERTY AFTER FIRE

Police detectives found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in a house
owned by Gov. Bill Janklow after a fire destroyed other buildings on the
Sioux Falls farmstead last week.

Tenants rent the property from the governor.

Police and fire crews were called to the site on West Benson Road in
northwest Sioux Falls on Friday morning as fire burned a horse barn and
storage shed.

Janklow said he was "furious" about the discovery of drugs on his property.

"They are doing drugs around little kids. It's sad that my building had to
burn down to catch them," he said

Sioux Falls Police Sgt. Jerry Mundt, an arson investigator and the
narcotics unit supervisor, investigated the fire. He said he was familiar
with several of the residents of the property and suspected that the fire
could have been caused by a meth lab.

"That was my first thought going in," Mundt said.

After interviewing witnesses, Mundt said he had probable cause to get a
search warrant.

"We found evidence of heavy drug usage," he said.

Detectives recovered burned spoons, syringes and small amounts of
methamphetamine.

"Nothing led me to indicate we had a meth lab," Mundt said.

Sioux Falls Fire Chief Donn Hill said Tuesday that the cause of the fire is
still under investigation.

When an Argus Leader reporter contacted Janklow to discuss the
investigation Tuesday afternoon, the governor refused to comment. Later, he
called a news conference to talk about the case.

Janklow has owned the property since 1994 but told reporters in the news
conference that he does not handle the rental himself. He had met the
current renter only once, the governor said.

Several other people kept horses at the barn, Janklow said.

Shortly after the fire, a news release from Falls Fire Rescue said
investigators thought the fire started in a horse shelter and spread into
the barn. Firefighters were unable to save the barn, a storage shed and a
camper trailer.

Janklow said he knew later that night that drugs had been found on his
property. Investigators called him at the governor's residence in Pierre to
let him know, he said.

He didn't say anything about the drugs after officers urged him not to talk
because of an ongoing investigation, the governor said.

Janklow said he asked a police officer if there was a meth lab in the
structure and was told no.

"They looked at that barn very closely," he said. "They found absolutely
nothing.

Janklow said he never noticed or heard about suspicious activity at the
property.

"If I have trouble with a renter, I get rid of them, period," he said.

Janklow said he went out to the property a few times to check on the property.

"Very seldom did I see anyone when I went over there," he said. "I know
there's a lady that lives there with one or two children."

Police are looking for Camille Hart, one of the tenants, for questioning in
the case. No arrest warrants have been issued.