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."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin