Pubdate: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO) Copyright: 2005 Cox Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.gjsentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084 Author: Emily Morris Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) METH MADNESS, DESTRUCTIVE DRUG CULTURE PERMEATES GRAND VALLEY In September, agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 22 pounds of methamphetamine from a man passing through on Interstate 70, the most ever seen in Mesa County. The Mesa County District Attorney's Office had a record number of felony filings, which authorities said had a lot to do with meth. "Meth takes up a majority of our time," said Lt. Tim Grimsby, with the Drug Enforcement Agency. "What happened is it took over the market about four to six years ago and dominates the drug culture." It also dominated the news in 2005. It was a record year for methamphetamine, with stories popping up on Page One of The Daily Sentinel on a regular basis throughout the year. Sentinel news staffers voted meth, and all of its associated problems, the No. 1 news story of the year. Mesa County is certainly not alone. According to a survey from the National Association of Counties, 58 percent of 500 responding agencies reported methamphetamine as their largest drug problem, and 87 percent reported an increase in arrests in the past three years. Autumn brought an outbreak of meth-related violence, beginning with an unsolved shootout in the 400 block of Chipeta Avenue on Oct. 14, in which 17 shell casings were found in the street. The next day, Lindsay Little was shot in the face in the 1000 block of Belford Avenue. Two weeks later, he was found dead in his mother's home after he contracted pneumonia, a complication from his being on a hospital ventilator after the shooting, according to the coroner's report. The three people arrested for Little's apparently random murder were "collecting drug debts," when they saw Little and decided to rob him, according to arrest affidavits. The suspects, Eric Snyder, 22, Betrina Aguayo, 24, and Gary Ortiz, 19, are charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree assault and attempted aggravated robbery. Ten days after Little was shot, 20-year-old Christopher Wieberg allegedly walked into an apartment and fatally shot Thomas Martinez in the head because of a $600 drug debt, according to a confidential informant cited in Wieberg's arrest affidavit. Martinez himself was facing up to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to selling methamphetamine to an undercover police officer. He was murdered before his sentencing. Two weeks later, on Nov. 6, someone drove through Grand Rivers Mobile Home Park, 2925 North Ave., and shot at No. 6. There were no arrests, with the exception of the victim, Samuel Frost, 30, for obstructing the investigation. Frost has two past drug charges. Six days later, there was another drive-by shooting at the Grand Rivers Mobile Home Park. There have been no arrests in that incident. About a month after Martinez's murder, Samuel Lincoln, 24, and Charles Pruitt, 39, allegedly drove James Finnegan, 20, to the desert north of Grand Junction and shot him six times - once in the face, twice in the back, once in the side, once in the wrist and once in the leg - before leaving him to die. According to the warrant affidavits, the shooting was in retaliation for Wieberg's arrest. Lincoln wanted to kill "the rat" for allegedly telling authorities where Wieberg was hiding, according to affidavits. Finnegan and Lincoln had allegedly been smoking methamphetamine together when they left, picked up Pruitt and drove out to the desert. Pruitt and Lincoln went into hiding. A week later, Samuel Lincoln allegedly emptied two handguns as he shot at deputies in a patrol car pursuing him at speeds in excess of 100 mph. A woman charged as an accessory in the attempted murder of Finnegan, Ashley King, 23, was arrested in October for alleged methamphetamine possession after she drove into a ditch. Lincoln, Pruitt, King and Finnegan have all been accused of methamphetamine use in the past. "There are common actors in all these different cases," said District Attorney Pete Hautzinger. "More now than I remember having seen in my career before is how today's victims can be tomorrow's defendants." The drug has made investigation into crime much more complicated, said Sheriff's Department investigator Steve King. "People have different reasons for not telling the truth," King said. "For example, the drive-by. When I got there, my victim was on his way to jail for interfering with deputies." Frost was arrested when authorities arrived to question him and he was "uncooperative, obstructing the investigation and resisted arrest," Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Susan McBurney said. Finnegan was arrested in May for methamphetamine possession. The investigation into his attempted murder has yielded at least eight arrests, according to the Sheriff's Department. The investigation into Martinez's murder led to 14 arrests. There have been similar spurts of violence in the past, but there was a relative lull for the past few years. Hautzinger said the Grand Valley was living on borrowed time. "There hadn't been much in the way of violent crime until recently. The reason is purely nothing but methamphetamine. All the recent cases are somewhat interconnected. There are actors who are common to all of these cases, and all are active in our meth subculture." Investigator King, who headed up the investigation into the attempted murder of Finnegan, attributes the perceived rise in crime to methamphetamine as well. "I am trying to think back to the last violent crime I dealt with that didn't have some meth angle, and I'm thinking Blagg (a murder investigation spanning from November 2001 to June 2002)," King said. "It was there, but I think it was more sporadic. Since Blagg, it has been consistent." Methamphetamine use is everyone's concern, King said. According to Mesa County Community Corrections data from 2004, more than 40 percent of inmates admitted to using methamphetamines in the past 4 1/2 years. The average users said they began using the drug at the age of 22. Any number of crimes can be tied to methamphetamine use, King said. "Stealing property, writing bad checks, construction-site thefts - all because they need more money," King said. "Sex crimes, including crimes against children because of the highly sexualized nature of meth. Go to trial and listen: People say they were under the influence of meth at the time. Or users can't take care of their children and put them in a position to be abused by a pedophile. It's disgusting." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin