Sheriff’s deputies and drug agents arrested three local men
during a Friday night raid of a methamphetamine
”
super lab
”
in San Juan Bautista.
Sheriff’s deputies and drug agents arrested three local men during a Friday night raid of a methamphetamine “super lab” in San Juan Bautista, but investigators are still looking for another suspect who escaped on foot.
Octavio Guadalupe Abad, 38, Francisco Moroyoqui Diaz, 71, and Jesus Torres, 21, all of 482 Olympia Road in San Juan were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine. Abad, Diaz and Torres are being held in San Benito County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail each, according to jail records.
The alleged drug-making operation could have produced up to 30 pounds of methamphetamine in a three-day cooking cycle, said Commander Bob Cooke of the Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team.
Thirty pounds of methamphetamine would have an estimated street value of more than $816,000, officials said.
Cooke said there was evidence that the trio may have been manufacturing methamphetamine for some time.
“They’ve cooked there a couple of times,” he said. “There was a large pit behind the barn where they had dumped waste from prior cooks.”
Deputies reportedly found the drug lab at about 9 p.m. Friday when they went to the suspects’ residence to serve a $10,000 arrest warrant on a woman who supposedly lived there. At the home, deputies started talking to Abad, Diaz and Torres.
An unidentified fourth man reportedly fled on foot almost as soon as he saw the deputies approaching. Deputies chased the fleeing man through a nearby orchard but lost him under the cover of darkness.
Abad, Diaz and Torres gave deputies permission to look inside the home for the woman named in the warrant. During their search, deputies saw a number of suspicious items that resembled materials used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
A deputy sergeant called UNET with his suspicions, which were confirmed by drug agents. Deputies stayed on the property while drug agents got a search warrant.
UNET brought members of the Department of Justice’s South Bay Methamphetamine Task Force and members of the DOJ Crime Lab to search the residence. The agents reportedly found 25 to 30 gallons of methamphetamine being manufactured in a barn behind the house, Cooke said. They also found a 12-gauge shotgun and a .357 magnum revolver, he said.
The San Benito County District Attorney’s Office is expected to review the allegations against Abad, Diaz and Torres and decide whether to file charges against them by Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Methamphetamine, also known as “crank,” has quickly become the local drug of choice, and use of the drug continues to rise, Cooke said.
The stimulant’s popularity among drug users has, within a short time, surpassed that of cocaine, he said.
“It’s half the price of cocaine and the effects last longer,” Cooke said in a previous interview.
He said a big part of the problem with methamphetamine is that users become addicted to the narcotic before they realize it.
Methamphetamine was developed in the early 20th century from its parent drug amphetamine. It was originally used in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers and in the treatment of narcolepsy and obesity.
In the 1970s, drug dealers learned how to make the drug using a variety of over-the-counter medications and common household chemicals.
The ingredients can include over-the-counter cold, allergy and asthma medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Red phosphorous, hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, lantern fuel and antifreeze are among other ingredients most commonly used.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said his department has seen the drug begin to work its way into the local high schools and is calling for the community to pull together to combat the spread of meth.
“This stuff covers all cross sections of our community. There is no one that is immune to this,” Hill said. “The kids out there in the community know who (the users) are and who is dealing this.”
He said parents need to be on the lookout for the warning signs of methamphetamine use.
“If they have kids who are staying up all night hanging out with their buddies and sleeping all day to about 3 p.m., parents may want to start paying attention to this,” Hill said.
