POLICE FIND DRUG LAB NEAR MORGAN HILL

Ranch caretaker sought after fleeing scene

Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies serving a restraining order on a
Morgan Hill man late Tuesday discovered a methamphetamine laboratory
in his cabin, located on a ranch in the shadow of the Uvas Reservoir
dam.

The ranch is southwest of Morgan Hill, about a mile from the junction
of Uvas and Watsonville roads.

Allen L. Pacheco, 47, who was leaving the Merriman Ranch as deputies
Mike Rodriguez and Bob Cisneros approached, abandoned his vehicle and
fled into the hills, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Hirokawa.

After losing Pacheco and two other unidentified men at the ranch in
the heavily wooded area, the deputies returned to the cabin that
Pacheco occupied as ranch caretaker. The smell of chemicals led them
to substances and equipment commonly associated with the manufacturing
of methamphetamine, Hirokawa said.

The deputies called in agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement and the United Narcotics Enforcement Team, who found
chemicals in the final stages of methamphetamine production, said Bob
Cooke, a BNE agent and supervisor of the local narcotics enforcement
team.

Among the chemicals found were hydrogen chloride gas, liquid Freon,
red phosphorus and iodine crystals -- all ingredients of
methamphetamine, a white crystalline derivative of
amphetamine.

The laboratory is capable of producing 20 pounds of methamphetamine in
a 24- to 36-hour period, Cooke said. Methamphetamine producers
typically sell at $6,500 a pound to good customers, who can then sell
it about $600 an ounce on the streets, he said.

Mark A. Merriman, 52, who arrived while agents were conducting their
investigation, was arrested on felony warrants for transportation and
sale of a controlled substance and abuse of an elderly person,
Hirokawa said.