RAID ON METH LAB BRINGS TWO ARRESTS UNDER TOUGH NEW LAW

Harrison Men Plead Innocent

Southern Indiana authorities have made their first arrests under
Indiana's new, tougher methamphetamine laws, raiding a temporary meth
lab found in the Hoosier National Forest in Crawford County.

The law increases the penalties associated with the drug, putting the
production and sale of methamphetamine on par with selling cocaine.

If convicted, the two Harrison County men arrested in the raid could
face up to 50 years in prison each. Previously, the maximum sentence
for manufacturing methamphetamine was 20 years.

''This really sort of puts it in a whole different field,'' said
Crawford County prosecutor Steve Owen.

An Indiana Conservation officer found the two men at a tent at the
Hemlock Cliffs deep in the Hoosier National Forest Thursday night.

The officer had noticed a vehicle with an expired license plate on a
nearby road and entered the forest to investigate, said conservation
officer Mac Spainhour.

While questioning one of the men, the officer noticed tubing, coffee
filters and other items used to make methamphetamine, Spainhour said.
He called for additional officers, who arrested the second man as he
arrived at the tent shortly afterward.

Inside the tent, officers found several grams of methamphetamine and
chemicals used to make the drug, said Hailey Moss, a forensic
scientist with the Indiana State Police Clandestine Lab Team.

The team specializes in handling the highly explosive chemicals used
to make the drug, and it was called to the forest to dismantle what
Moss described as a mid-sized lab.

Owen said recently that people have begun producing meth at remote
sites, away from their homes, where they make the drug for a short
period of time and then leave.

It thus becomes difficult to make arrests, he said, because people
are rarely at the scene when authorities discover the labs.

''This is now the trend,'' he said. ''We've found labs in cars, we've
found labs in trailers. We've come across labs out in the forest.
We've run across precursors in the middle of nowhere.''

The men arrested in Thursday's raid -- Zachary A. Lane, 23, of
Lanesville, and Jeremy Streepey, 25, of Corydon -- appeared at an
initial hearing in Crawford County Circuit Court on Monday.

Both pleaded innocent to charges of dealing methamphetamine,
possessing marijuana and possessing drug precursors with intent to
manufacture methamphetamine. Streepey also pleaded innocent to a
misdemeanor charge of driving while suspended.

Both were being held in the Crawford County Jail in lieu of $20,000
cash bonds yesterday.

Owen said the arrests are hardly unusual for Crawford County. He
estimated that about 60 percent of his caseload involves charges of
making or possessing methamphetamine.

''It's our biggest problem,'' he said. ''It's not only a load on our
jail and our court system, but it's hurting a lot of families.''