MOTELS, METH LABS A DEADLY MIXTURE

Small-Time Cooks Like the Price; Endanger Themselves and Others

Andy Duran was working as a narcotics agent in 1992 when his team burst
through the front door of a $39-a-night motel room in Escondido.

Duran, now a supervisor for the San Bernardino County West End Narcotics
Enforcement Team in Chino, said the suspect had only been in the room a
half day when agents were tipped off. It was enough time for the suspect to
begin a batch of methamphetamine, but not enough to finish.

"As we breached the front door, he retreated to the bathroom,' Duran said.
"We think he tried to lure us into the room, trying to say he was hurt.'

Thirty officers on scene were fortunate - the suspect was armed with a live
grenade.

"He actually tried to throw the hand grenade at us when we busted through
the front door. Unfortunately, he actually blew himself up,' Duran said.

Those situations are among the many reasons motel meth labs are often more
dangerous than larger clandestine labs. Operators of smaller labs tend to
use their own product, unlike the operators of large labs who are in it for
the money, Duran said.

"They become paranoid. They arm themselves. They can become very
suspicious,' Duran said. "They become not only a danger to us ... they're
also danger to the citizens.'

And while the number of labs in Southern California motels don't appear to
be growing, they are still dangerous enough to concern law enforcement and
property owners. An explosion or fire could hurt innocent bystanders
residing in neighboring rooms. Damage created by meth labs and the effort
required to clean up after the so-called cooks leave can be a financial
nightmare for the motel or hotel owner.

Small-Scale Hazard

Law enforcement officers have discovered much about small clandestine labs
over the years, including why illegal drug manufacturers choose motels over
houses or garages.

Motels are a draw to meth makers because they are cheap, convenient and quick.

"They can go in there, cook a batch of meth and be gone in a day or two,'
Duran said.

Manufacturers generally don't make more than one-pound batches at a time
and stay around 8 to 12 hours in a room before leaving, he said.

Some who have homes would rather contaminate someone else's property than
their own. And others choose motels because they don't want their families
to know about their criminal activity.

But officers in narcotics enforcement say differences also lie in the
personality of small-scale manufacturers. They tend to be transient and use
the drugs they make.

Duran said the paranoia associated with the constant use of methamphetamine
often drives meth manufacturers to carry weapons, which can be a danger to
police and other tenants of a motel.

The cooking process is also dangerous.

Beverly Migues, a hazardous materials specialist with the Los Angeles
County Fire Department, said she responded to one explosion where a
6-by-4-inch shard of glass was found sticking into a wall. The meth cookers
in the Diamond Bar motel room escaped before police showed up.

She's been inside rooms where the ceiling was coated with red phosphorus
and iodine, a chemical combination that appears yellow on walls.

Another lab explosion in San Pedro more than five years ago left a drug
manufacturer injured. Investigators found a trail of blood from the room to
where the man got into his car and fled, Migues said.

Duran said two people were hurt when the back wall and windows blew out of
a Best Western Hotel in Chino six years ago.

While hazmat personnel require motel owners to clean up contaminated rooms,
it still can pose a threat to future tenants, said Tom Holeman, a retired
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective.

"There could be a problem with residual contamination that very well could
go undetected. Small children would be vulnerable,' he said. "A motel with
a common ventilation system could very well cause others to become ill.'

WestNET agents uncovered a lab in Ontario last year where a man piped the
exhaust fumes into the ventilation system.

This is a technique drug manufacturers use to make the fumes rise and to
keep them from being detected by people at ground level, Duran said.

Duran said he's seen manufacturers who tried containing fumes by piping the
exhaust into five-gallon cans filled with kitty litter, water or ice.

The Cleanup

Pete Patel said his hotel had been known in police circles as the "Fish
Pond.' The Good Nite Inn in Ontario earned the nickname because police
officers "were always liable to catch something there,' Patel said.

"Even the cab drivers knew this is a place you don't want to take someone,'
he said.

The hotel used to have frequent police calls; among the reasons were drug labs.

That was up until about a year ago.

After spending $32,000 for a digital surveillance system, $5,000 for
lighting, training housekeepers and other employees to be watchful and
working closely with police, the hotel is turning its reputation around.

There have been no drug labs in at least the past year, Patel said.

"We haven't had one since we've taken over,' Patel said, adding that the
business name will soon be changed to Nites Inn. "We're very careful about
security and any suspicious activity we report it. Even before these guys
get set up they're deterred because we ask questions.'

Patel said he's gone through the trouble to deter drug manufacturers
because, among other reasons, it's a financial burden to clean up after them.

It requires replacing the room's carpet, bed, bedspread, linens, porous
furniture and painting the walls. Patel estimated the cost of cleanup is
around $2,000 for one room.

Motel and hotel owners are not allowed to rent out the contaminated rooms
until hazardous materials personnel reinspect the room and give it a clean
bill of health.

"We observe that, in fact, everything has been cleaned and then we
authorize that it's OK to reoccupy the room,' said Migues.

Patel said he has attended seminars that teach hotel owners what to look for.

Holeman speaks at those seminars. A 12-year veteran with the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department who worked in narcotics enforcement, he travels
around the country giving lectures to law enforcement about meth labs.

However, Holeman said he knows of no focused effort to educate motel and
hotel managers on a continuing basis.

Checking Out

While law enforcement still encounter the smaller-scale labs in everything
from dog houses to shacks, it appears the trend is diminishing in some
areas. Police say there are so many risks involved with cooking drugs in
motels that they are choosing other venues.

"It is so dangerous to do these small cooks as far as being detected and
the dangers, it's now being done out in San Bernardino and Riverside
County,' Estrada said.

Estrada, who has worked in narcotics enforcement for the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department five years, said about two years ago, motel meth labs
were more common. The trend appears to be that manufacturers are moving to
more remote locations.

"Now they're going out to the middle of the desert where they can see cops
from three to four miles away, pick up their stuff and get out of there,'
he said.

Ontario police Sgt. John Evans said the trend of motel meth labs was at its
highest in 1996 and 1997 in Ontario.

At the time, police uncovered labs in many motels throughout the city. But
it seems to be dropping off now, Evans said. He also suspects manufacturers
who previously set up in motels are moving their operations to rural areas
and out of state.

"It's still being done, but the hotels are just not the venue you see it
in,' he said.

Other officers suspect the drug manufacturers have found a way to avoid
being detected.

Back in the 1980s, it wasn't unusual for officers to run into tens of
thousands of dollars in cash, narcotics and stolen vehicles during a
typical drug raid, Duran said. As the years went on, he started noticing
the amount of drugs and cash began to go down.

"The crooks got smart,' he said. "This could be the same trend.'

Duran said that some manufacturers are going to rural areas, while others
are breaking down the meth cooking process into several steps and using
several people to do it.

"I think what's happened recently is they're going more covert,' Duran
said. "They're breaking it down into stages where they're harder to find.'