Ledger-Dispatch

By Raheem Hosseini (editor@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

A gated rural neighborhood off of = Jackson Valley=20 Road led to a 40-acre property atop a hill where law enforcement = from=20 three counties raided a methamphetamine lab April 25, one of two = lab=20 seizures to occur in the area last month.

Photo by: Raheem=20 Hosseini
The cable truck driver pauses his = company=20 van on the sticky blacktop for a brief, indecisive moment. The iron-rod = gate to=20 this secluded road may already stand open, but there is much else about = the=20 neighborhood in the 6000 block of Jackson Valley Road that says keep=20 out.

"No trespassing" signs mark every pass of a claustrophobic = gravel=20 road whose turns are ever sharper and upward. As it climbs toward = invisible=20 corners, the rolling scenery dissolves, replaced by dropping embankments = on one=20 side and steep, sunbeaten hills on the other. After a moment of = hesitation, the=20 idling van lurches forward to make its appointment.

On April 25, = law=20 enforcement agents from three counties kept their own appointment, = storming a=20 suspected methamphetamine lab in this rural Ione enclave, one of two = major lab=20 seizures to occur in the area that month.

Arrested were four = people=20 believed to be part of a conspiracy to produce mass quantities of a drug = the=20 California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement lists as prevalent in illicit = labs=20 across rural California. The raid led to the seizure of a second meth = lab and=20 the arrest of an Alameda County man later that day in = Hayward.

The=20 operation kicked off around 7 a.m. that Friday, with agents from the = Amador=20 County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Amador County Probation=20 Department and sheriff's deputies from Amador, Calaveras and El Dorado = counties=20 executing search and arrest warrants on a 40-acre swath of property = consisting=20 of a large machine shop, mobile home and converted tree = house.

Task force=20 commander Jackie Long, a special agent supervisor from the state justice = department, said raid teams were assigned to clear specific structures = and that=20 the operation went off without a hitch.

At the main residence, = police=20 detained and ultimately arrested Patrick and Daniel Chandler. Two = suspects were=20 also located in the tree house, which had been converted into a = one-bedroom=20 studio.

A search of the property resulted in the seizure of = several=20 compounds and tools used to cook meth, multiple firearms and the = location of a=20 burn pit outside the single-wide mobile home that suggests the illicit = lab had=20 been functioning for some time.

"They didn't just start the other = day,"=20 Long said. "They've been doing this a while."

While the evidence = is still=20 being analyzed, Long estimated the lab had been in operation since at = least=20 early 2007. Law enforcement also found Vicodin pills packaged for sale = and=20 documents tying the Chandler brothers to the conspiracy to manufacture = meth.=20 There was enough psuedoephedrine to produce half a pound of uncut=20 methamphetamine, which has a street value of $17,000.

Patrick = Chandler,=20 52, and the two arrested in the tree house, 47-year-old Jeffrey Andel = and=20 58-year-old Penny Wilson, were booked at the Amador County Jail on = multiple=20 charges, each with a bail of $550,000.

Daniel Chandler, 56, was = taken to=20 Sutter Amador Hospital where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He faces = the same=20 four charges and was cited to appear in Amador Superior = Court.

Asked if=20 this was a sign of things to come from the fledgling task force, which = includes=20 multiple local law enforcement agencies, Long said he hoped = so.

Though=20 lab seizures of the scale that occurred April 25 have been rare in the = county,=20 Long said it was probably more endemic of slim resources and a lack of=20 training.

"We do have labs," Long said, adding that = methamphetamine,=20 marijuana and pharmaceuticals were significant problems in the county. = "Our=20 effort and our aim is to do what we need to ... from street dealers all = the way=20 to the major hitters."

That effort was helped by the revival of = the task=20 force in November. Long credited Sheriff Martin Ryan for pursuing state = and=20 federal grants to put together a task force that works with its own law=20 enforcement agencies and other counties.

"It's pretty rare for = (counties)=20 to have a team concept," Long added. "Because of the concept, we can = take things=20 a little further."

Raheem = Hosseini