METH RAID YIELDS NOTHING

FRISCO - The Summit County Drug Task Force raided a Meadow Villas II
condominium Sunday morning believing it would find a meth lab. It left
empty-handed but with Sheriff John Minor and Frisco Police Chief Tom
Wickman saying police are still suspicious, but apologetic and willing
to pay for damages caused by the raid.

In unit 108, a ground-floor unit, clothes are strewn throughout the
bedroom of Josh Brudwick and Kate Rhodes. A mirror is broken, doors
sport holes, trash is piled on the floor and photos are scattered
throughout the living room. The ceiling fan slaps the chilly air that
pours through the living room window.

It's all Rhodes can do to refrain from crying when she thinks of
Sunday's events, which began at 10:30 a.m.

The Summit County Drug Task Force, represented by Minor, Wickman and
Undersheriff Derek Woodman, reported it received a tip in early March
from a resident in the unit above the Brudwick-Rhodes condo about a
strong odor.

Police came to suspect the two were manufacturing crystal
methamphetamine, a drug whose production process can be extremely
odorous - and explosive, the three top police officers said in a joint
interview Monday.

Nine tips later - four of which were confirmed by police, two of whom
became ill after checking the Brudwick-Rhodes unit 2:30 a.m. Sunday -
the sheriff's office obtained a search warrant.

Police staking out the unit through the early morning hours Sunday
also witnessed a man coming out of the house with a duffel bag and
trash bag; he apparently spotted an observing officer and retreated
into the house, said Sheriff John Minor. Law enforcement never found
either bag.

Later Sunday morning, Rhodes and Brudwick left the condo to eat
breakfast at the Claimjumper.

"As we pulled out of our parking lot, there was a police officer
following us, and when we pulled into the Claimjumper, three officers
surrounded the car," Brudwick said. "They knew our names, they said
they were going to detain us, that our car was now the property of the
Frisco Police Department."

The SWAT team descended on the condo.

One officer told Rhodes and Brudwick police had found "stuff" at the
couple's home, they said. The two said they had no idea what they were
talking about.

The two were then handcuffed, frisked and walked back to their
unit.

"We came around the corner and there was a full SWAT team in
camouflage, a hazmat crew in full white suits and gas masks, police
officers, firefighters ..." Brudwick said. "They'd surrounded the
building. They'd closed the parking lots."

Police poured through the condo, breaking down two doors, looking for
the suspected meth lab.

They tested bags of clothing found in the garage that proved positive
for hydrocarbons, which can range from something as innocuous as
gasoline to something as toxic as phosgene gas, the explosive
byproduct of crystal meth production, police said.

They took swabs of a microwave that tested positive for hydrocarbons
on a broad scale, but not so on a narrowly defined scale. And they
photographed the walls in the house, some of which had been wiped
clean - around the photos - with 409 cleanser.

The police said that while Rhodes was hysterical, Brudwick was
laughing.

But they found nothing.

Yet, Minor, Woodman and Wickman are still suspicious.

"The complaints, the running water (reported by the complainant), the
unusual wiping of the walls, two officers getting sick, four officers
verifying the odor, the smell, the odd behavior - something's not
right," Minor said. "There are a lot of unexplained things here. The
only plausible explanation is we believe there was probably a meth lab
in there. All the indicators were there, but the products were not. We
got burned, and we paid the price."

Brudwick maintains the couple's innocence.

"I don't know how they can be suspicious of anything," he said. "I'm
an upstanding citizen, I've lived here for 10 years, I've never been
arrested. They are more than welcome to come back into our house, they
can continue their investigation all they want; they're never going to
find anything because there's nothing there."

Later Sunday morning, Frisco Police Officer Mark White removed the
handcuffs and profusely apologized, gave the couple a card and told
the couple to send the Drug Task Force the cleanup bill.

Neighbors had conflicting reports about the incident.

"With the exception of the Frisco officer, not one officer cared about
the destruction the raid had caused to the lives of this couple," said
neighbor Jim Wheeler. "I couldn't believe they just left that mess
there."

Nancy Peterson, another neighbor, said she thought the incident looked
like a bona fide operation.

Minor said he wouldn't hesitate to conduct such an operation again if
necessary.

"It's a public safety issue," he said. "Imagine if we didn't execute
the search warrant and that place blew up. You'd hang us out to dry,
and you'd have every right to do so."

"We have to take all precautions for the public's safety," Wickman
said. "If it happened again, we'd do it again. We don't have the choice."

"We did the best we could with the information we had and we would
have been remiss if we had not acted," the sheriff said.

"I am still convinced there was something there."

Minor said that he is prepared to apologize to the couple personally
and to hand them a check for damages.

Woodman said the cost of damages would be handled from Drug Task Force
funds. The couple rents the unit and police told the owner to get
damage estimates.

Damages will be paid from the Drug Task Force fund which is financed
by the supporting police agencies, past drug bust cash seizures and
fines.