METH USE FUELS ID THEFT

Users Of Drug's Crystal Form Increasingly Turn To Property, Identity
Crimes, Cops Say

When South Bay police show up on a methamphetamine raid, they're likely to
find stolen property, or the stuff of identity theft -- bank account
numbers of others, their credit cards, Social Security numbers.

When searching the home of a suspected burglar or identity thief, there's a
fair chance they'll also discover methamphetamine.

Investigators are finding a growing nexus between the white, addictive
powder -- especially the more potent "crystal meth" that's flooded the
market this decade -- and such crimes.

"For the last several years," said Los Gatos Police Chief Scott Seaman,
"we've seen a continuing and increasing number of cases of mail and
identify theft as well as a series of vehicle thefts and home burglaries,
and in a significant number of these cases, we find either evidence of meth
use or intoxication or possession by the suspects."

A report released last year by the Office of National Drug Control Policy
showed that 36.9 percent of men and 45.3 percent women arrested in San Jose
in 2003 tested positive for meth, while just 12.9 percent of men and 10.1
percent of women showed traces of cocaine. The numbers were even lower for
opiates: 3.1 percent for men; 3.4 percent for women.

Part of the problem is the fierce grip meth holds on its users. It gives
them a strong, sustained high of energy, sometimes for 24 to 36 hours.

Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in
Lafayette, Calif., called crystal meth "highly addictive," especially when
smoked. And it is twice as potent as the powder that was prevalent in the
1980s.

"Practically speaking," he wrote in an e-mail, 'the current crystal meth
should be viewed as a new drug -- it is much more powerful, much more
addicting, much more toxic."

As a result, he added, "a large (but unknown) percentage of people who try
it (for at least 3 times), will progress to loss of control" over the drug.

And for some, that means turning to crime to support their habits --
something addicts have done forever. What is newer is identity theft.

Sgt. Richard Shipman, who oversees investigations for the Campbell Police
Department, and some other Bay Area police officers point to a connection
between meth and stolen checks. Meth addicts root through someone's mail
box, steal an outgoing check and then copy the routing number and imprint
it on a phony check.

"By the time it gets to the bank" and is shown to be fake, he said, "the
crook has already walked away."

Never put your outgoing bills in an unlocked mailbox, he said, and
especially don't raise the box's flag, if it has one, to advertise there's
mail inside.

"It's almost the same picture everywhere you go now," said Bob Cooke,
special agent in charge for the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in San
Jose. Meth addicts "have found new ways to make money. ID theft is hugely
related to methamphetamine addiction."

Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy said his office's
studies show that meth is ascendant among criminals. "Some years," he said,
"it's been all PCP. Some years in the past it was all coke; right now it's
all meth."

And the people stealing mail for identity theft, he said, "are all cranksters."

Authorities are trying to do something about it, even though much of the
information about an upswing in use and its connected crimes seems anecdotal.

For about six years now, Shipman said, South Bay investigators have been
meeting with their counterparts from financial institutions to discuss
crimes of fraud.

Lawmakers have imposed reporting requirements for some of the ingredients
used to make meth, making it harder for big labs to get away with high
production.

"I think the chemical reporting has helped us with some of the larger
labs," said Bob Mecir, task force commander for the Santa Clara County
Specialized Enforcement Team. "We've noticed a difference. But we haven't
noticed any type of difference on what we're seeing on the streets. The
volume is still there."

That's because, officials say, Mexican drug traffickers have stepped up to
fill the void.

In the middle of August, the DEA, along with foreign officials, busted
three Mexican and Columbian drug rings, seizing cocaine and
methamphetamine. A week later, the agency seized 56 clandestine labs in a
nationwide sweep.

But the problem persists. And as Mecir knows, it can be heartbreaking.

One local woman was selling meth to one of Mecir's undercover agents and
sucking on the pipe herself, even though she was very pregnant.

"The baby was born addicted," he said. "It's a diabolical substance."