Police seek ex-shuttle driver in meth bust

Juneau police and Alaska State Troopers on Tuesday were still looking

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for a former Frontier Suites Airport Hotel van driver who fled the hotel on foot Monday night after SEANET disrupted a small methamphetamine laboratory he had allegedly set up in a room on the fourth floor.

A maintenance man at the Mendenhall Valley hotel, who last month had attended a daylong seminar on identifying possible meth labs, discovered the tell-tale signs of the operation at 6 p.m. Monday, hotel owner Don Madsen said.

The maintenance man told the hotel staff members, who called police to report a trespasser. The suspect had not rented the room. He used a reprogrammable key card to break into the room and set up his operation, Madsen said.

"Maybe he's done it before, I don't know," Madsen said. "When they catch him, I guess they're probably going to figure it out. They've got his name."

SEANET, the Southeast Alaska Narcotics Enforcement Team, arrived at the scene Monday night and concluded its on-site investigation Tuesday afternoon. The suspect was using a combination of anhydrous ammonia, solvents, lithium metal and pseudoephedrine, Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Tim Birt said.

In Southeast Alaska, anhydrous ammonia is often used in the cold storage industry. In other regions of the world, it's used as a fertilizer.

The man was likely using the chemical as a reagent, or catalyst, in his operation, Birt said.

The suspect allegedly stored the ammonia in a propane cylinder with brass fittings. The exterior of the cylinder did not appear to be compromised, Birt said. Most of the materials have been sent to a crime lab for more analysis.

"We can't tell by looking at it what the condition is from the inside out, which is where the corrosion begins," Birt said. "The container was not suitable for the chemical, and the chemical is never suitable to be kept in a residential or household environment such as what you would find in a hotel room. At the very least, it is a respiratory irritant. And at the very most, it can result in death."

The fourth floor of the hotel was evacuated Monday evening. All guests were moved to different rooms in the hotel, Madsen said. Police and troopers set up a command post in one room, while continuing to search the room in question.

The floor was released to the hotel at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Madsen has talked to Juneau civil engineering and environmental firm Carson Dorn about conducting cleanup tests in the room.

Cleanup costs could range from $3,000 to $20,000, depending on what the firm finds, Madsen said.

"Currently, there's no hazard outside the room and we don't think there's any inside the room," Madsen said. "But we don't know for sure."

Juneau police Sgt. Dave Campbell was at the scene Monday night and said the lab's chemical scent was not noticeable in the hotel hallway.

"When I first arrived, I didn't notice any odor whatsoever," Campbell said. "Near the end, I did smell a little bit of a chemical smell but it wasn't very powerful."

That's not atypical of a meth lab, Birt said. A careful cook can disguise the odors in his operation. Once the process starts, it may take just 45 minutes to complete, he said. Some "labs" are actually confined to a quart-sized or pint-sized jar.

"The use of both portable labs and the use of hotel rooms across Alaska is an increasing trend," Birt said. "Not (in Juneau) that I'm aware of. But we do see it in other parts of Alaska, yes."

The suspect worked as a shuttle driver at Frontier Suites in November and December, Madsen said. He ferried drivers between Juneau International Airport and the hotel and also had a few shifts on the front desk, "which is where he got the opportunity to make himself a key," Madsen said.

Hotel staff reprogrammed every lock in the building on Tuesday, Madsen said.

"We did that just to make sure that if he had another key that he couldn't somehow get in," Madsen said.

Madsen was notified of the bust while on vacation. He also owns the Juneau Hotel and the Breakwater Inn Restaurant and Lounge. A little over a month ago, he sent two maintenance workers and his son, manager David Madsen, to a day-long seminar, "Methamphetamines: A Growing Problem," at the Tlingit-Haida Vocational Center.

"I didn't even think this stuff happened in Juneau," Madsen said.

"We heard there was a possibility and that's why we sent out managers to the class," he said. "They had just gone through training, and when (the maintenance man) found the room, he recognized the stuff the guy had. He saw the bottles. He figured out what he was probably doing."