Meth taking heavy toll on Muskogee, police say

BY DONNA HALES

Published: September 4, 2010

MUSKOGEE — A rise in methamphetamine labs has prompted a drug roundup netting 18 arrests and additional charges on 12 already in jail, police said.

District Attorney Larry Moore issued 99 arrest warrants, and officers served about a third of them Wednesday, said Lt. Andy Simmons, Special Investigations Unit supervisor.

More people will be arrested in "Operation Papa Smurf," he said.

"Smurf" is street slang for someone who buys pseudoephedrine and takes it to meth cooks.

Methamphetamine is costing the community in many ways, he said.

In the city so far this year, meth labs have caused:

Five structure fires.

Fires in two trash trucks from lab residue tossed in Dumpsters.

At least one death. David Fine died of burns and injuries received in a meth lab, Simmons said.

Methamphetamine also is thought to be a factor in a shooting death in Muskogee, Simmons said.

Mark Ridley, an investigator in the August shooting death of John Lyman, 41, said a man arrested as a material witness in Lyman's death, Lemanuel London, is on the roundup list for buying excessive amounts of pseudoephedrine.

Meth users and manufacturers make up a big circle in Muskogee, Ridley said.

Police credit the increase in local meth labs to the one-bottle "shake and bake" meth manufacturing procedure.

"Ten years ago, it took more or less a chemistry lab to manufacture meth," Simmons said. "Now, it's more or less a Gatorade bottle, pseudoephedrine and a few more ingredients."

"We know it (roundup) will slow them down," Simmons said. "We're getting cooperation from clerks in retail stores and the public.

"We've got to do something. It's getting dangerous for emergency personnel to have to deal with, even the sanitation workers."

The last fire-related call was at Motel 6, Simmons said. The meth cookers had disconnected the fire alarm. Someone in an adjoining room noticed the smoke and called the fire department, he said.

"They know it gives off a distinct odor — they don't want to do it at their home," Simmons said. "They're pretty slick about it."