METH MATERIALS FOUND IN PIT

Lawmen: Sinkhole Contains Materials From 200 Operations Dumped Over
Two-Year Period

HOCKERVILLE, Okla. -- Two federal agencies balked Thursday at cleaning up
debris from an estimated 200 methamphetamine-making operations dumped in a
mine sinkhole over the past two years.

The materials and a stolen car were found Wednesday by local drug officers
investigating another case.

"It's the biggest collection of toxic junk I've ever seen," said Miami
police Lt. Danny Green. "This place must have been a well-known dumping
ground for meth cooks all over the area."

Green and Lance Fields, a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer, found the
sinkhole about 2 p.m. on Wednesday while walking through land owned by
Samuel Thomas Hart, 31, of rural Hockerville, northeast of Picher in Ottawa
County.

Green said the officers went to Hart's home and did a "knock and talk"
interview regarding a federal fugitive, Sam Fitzgerald, who may have been
seen in the area recently.

Hart is free on bond awaiting an Oct. 29 preliminary hearing on charges of
possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. The
charges were filed in February.

Green said Hart gave the officers permission to search his home and land.
Green said the officers were walking through the heavily wooded property
when they found a Corvette covered by a tarp. Officers later determined
that the car was reported stolen earlier this week from a used-car
dealership in Baxter Springs, Kan.

The officers then found the sinkhole, about 25 feet across and more than 30
feet deep, which was nearly full of equipment and chemicals used to
manufacture meth.

"Some of it was pretty rusty, and some was bright and shiny new, so this
has been an ongoing dump site for what I would estimate was at least two
years," Green said.

Green and Fields are members of the 13th Judicial District Drug Task Force,
and have had training and experience in cases involving the making of meth.

Because the pit is on federal trust, or Indian, land, the officers
contacted the Drug Enforcement Administration, which normally handles the
cleanup and disposal of toxic drug materials found on federal land.

The officers also contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, because of
the scope of the waste dump and the potential contamination of soil and
ground water by chemicals leaching out of the pit during rainy periods.

Green said the officers were informed that the EPA would not respond. He
said they maintained security at the scene for nearly 24 hours before a DEA
agent arrived.

Nancy Jones, with the EPA's Region Six office in Dallas, said in a
telephone interview Thursday that the agency "is not funded for
drug-related cleanup. The DEA is funded for that."

Local officers said Thursday that Gary Young of the DEA's Tulsa office, who
arrived to look at the site, told them his agency could do only a partial
cleanup.

Lt. Charles Addington, with the BIA police unit stationed in Miami, said
the DEA uses a private contractor to clean up toxic drug debris at meth-lab
sites.

"They're apparently only equipped to handle small individual sites," he
said. "Nothing on the scale of this one has ever come up before."

Fields, with the BIA police, said officers were told by Young that the
DEA's private contractor "will bring in a backhoe and try to dig out as
much of this stuff as they can. They won't try to clean up the contaminated
soil or look at any possible water problems in the area."

Addington said BIA environmental specialist John Dalgarn, who was at the
scene, said he would try to contact someone about an extended cleanup.
Dalgarn and Young did not speak to reporters at the scene Thursday.

Green, with the Miami police, said the DEA contractor was coming from
Moore, near Oklahoma City, and was not expected to arrive until late
afternoon or early evening Thursday.

"We will have to continue maintaining security for public safety around the
scene, and possibly may try to fingerprint some of the equipment when the
DEA crew brings it out," he said.

Green said Hart had denied any knowledge of the meth dump or the stolen car
on his land. "He said there are always people passing through the area,
some without his knowledge," Green said.

In February, officers served a search warrant at Hart's home and reported
finding a number of items with traces of methamphetamine and marijuana, and
some drug paraphernalia.

A probable-cause affidavit filed for the search warrant said a confidential
informant told officers that he had purchased and used meth at Hart's home
and had seen it being cooked in an abandoned structure nearby.

Hart has been free on bond, and delays resulting from motions filed by his
attorney and conflicting dates on the court's calendar forced the
postponement of his preliminary hearing from Aug. 1 to Oct. 29.

Assistant District Attorney David Anderson said Thursday: "It's too soon to
say if this discovery will in any way be linked to Mr. Hart or result in
any new charges against him. The fact that the dump was on Indian land
might put the case in the federal court's jurisdiction."