MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON -- One of several ongoing criminal investigations here involving the street drug methamphetamine, produced a federal grand jury indictment, Sept. 6, against the wife of a Camp Pendleton Marine for manufacturing the drug in base housing.
If convicted, Denise Neff, who was arrested Aug. 24, faces five to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine for her role in manufacturing the drug between January and November 1999 in San Onofre II housing. (The indictment itself is not evidence she committed the crime, officials emphasized.) Her husband, LCpl. Aaron Neff, remains in pretrial confinement at the Marine Corps Base Brig, and is facing an Article 32 investigation for the same offense under Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If he's court-martialed and convicted, he could be confined for 35 years or more.
The investigation of the couple and their house was conducted jointly by Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The case is not isolated, according to Maj. Paul J. Leeds, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney here. The NCIS has an active caseload involving methamphetamine users, traffickers, and manufacturers on base, he added.
Convictions involving the lethal drug carry stiff penalties, according to Leeds.
"A Marine convicted in a general court-martial of one count of using meth faces a maximum of five years in prison, dishonorable discharge, and total forfeitures of pay and allowances," Leeds said. "A conviction of distributing the narcotic carries a maximum of a 15-year sentence for each count, dishonorable discharge, and total forfeitures of pay and allowances," he explained.
Methamphetamine manufacturing poses a deadly threat to everyone aboard Camp Pendleton - not just "cookers" or users of the drug.
Threats posed by clandestine labs are not limited to fire, explosion, poison gas, and booby traps. Hazardous waste generated by these labs also poses a serious danger to the environment, stated Mark R. Trouville, Associate Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles Field Division, DEA, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, in April.
Each pound of methamphetamine generated in a clandestine lab can result in as much as 5 pounds of toxic waste, which lab operators routinely dump into streams, rivers, and sewage systems to cover up the evidence of their illegal operations, Trouville added.
The highly toxic and flammable chemicals involved make these rudimentary laboratories ticking time bombs that require specialized training to dismantle and clean up, according to the DEA. In 1999, 20 Los Angeles area officers and/or firefighters were injured responding to meth lab explosions and fires.
"It is fair to say that methamphetamine is one of the most significant law enforcement and social issues facing Southern California and our nation today," said Gary D. Helson, former enforcement group supervisor Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Group, San Diego Field Division, DEA.
Although a new problem for much of the country, methamphetamine has a history in Southern California. Methamphetamine trafficking and secret methamphetamine laboratories have been encountered by California's federal, state and local law enforcement officials since the 1970's, according to the DEA.
Historically, the major suppliers of methamphetamine throughout the United States were outlaw motorcycle gangs and numerous other independent trafficking groups. Although these groups continue to produce and distribute methamphetamine, criminal Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating from Mexico and California now dominate wholesale methamphetamine trafficking in the United States, explained DEA officials before the House Judiciary Committee.
In the mid-1980's, when San Diego had the unfortunate distinction of being called the "methamphetamine capital of the country," large numbers of "super labs" were being seized in the county of San Diego. "Super labs" are defined as those clandestine labs capable of producing over 10 pounds of finished methamphetamine product per process. During 1987, approximately 130 methamphetamine "super labs" were seized in San Diego County alone, which represented approximately 30 percent of all of the illicit drug labs seized in the United States during that year. At that time, there were no laws regulating the precursor chemicals (ephedrine and hydriodic acid) most preferred by illicit methamphetamine lab operators in California and there were multiple rogue chemical companies operating in San Diego County.
As a result of several highly successful undercover DEA operations targeting those rogue companies and their customers, they were shut down. As a result, a large number of illicit methamphetamine lab operators were arrested and sentenced to prison. Chemical precursor control laws were subsequently enacted on the federal and state levels, which made it much more difficult for the traditional methamphetamine suppliers to obtain chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The number of large methamphetamine laboratories seized in the San Diego area began to decrease. The trend for the last several years has indicated that the larger methamphetamine laboratories appeared to move operations to the central and northern areas of California, or south of the border into Mexico.
The National Clandestine Laboratory Database records for 1999 indicate that 35 percent of the nation's 7,010 labs seized (by all agencies) were located in California. Fifty-three of those labs seized in 1999 were located in San Diego County.
Leeds, who has seen and prosecuted several methamphetamine cases over the past three years here and at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, emphasized that the Marine Corps is not taking meth cases lightly.
"Methamphetamine use is presenting the Marine Corps with serious safety and readiness problems," he said. "I have seen it ruin the lives of dozens of young Marines."
"We will continue to use all available resources to investigate and prosecute anyone, military or civilian, who brings it to Camp Pendleton."