Agents from the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team lay out evidence from a methamphetamine laboratory in Pioneer. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer recently acknowledged the dire nature of Amador's continuing battle with methamphetamine, as well as the harsh impact it's had on area crime and local families.

Boxer's words came in the form of a message sent to media and community organizations on Oct. 9. In it, she said that Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team "faces serious issues" because Amador "is often used to both manufacture and transport methamphetamine." Boxer went on to cite the connection between methamphetamine use and rising crime - including crimes of neglect and endangerment against children - as major reasons law enforcement needed support in fighting its presence.

"Many people assume that drug problems are associated with urban areas," Boxer wrote. "However, drug crimes too often infect rural areas like Amador County."

Boxer's statements were prompted by the announcement that the Amador County Sheriff's Office would receive a $500,000 stimulus grant to back-fill deputy sheriff positions re-assigned from patrol duties to narcotics when ACCNET was created. Just days after Boxer's letter was sent, ACCNET agents found and destroyed another methamphetamine laboratory in Pioneer.

The incident occurred Oct. 14 when 29-year-old Keary Halligan tried to run away from Amador County Probation Officers who'd dropped by his mother's home to verify he was living there. Halligan was on probation for crimes in El Dorado County, including possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest.

Halligan was not able to escape the house before probation officers cornered him. Launching a search, the officers came across methamphetamine, a methamphetamine smoking pipe and other illegal drug contraband in Halligan's room. They called ACCNET, which eventually led to the discovery of a portable meth lab that Halligan could break apart to conceal, and then put back together.

According to ACCNET's commander, Jackie Long, agents began to realize they were dealing with a lab when they saw numerous matchbooks around the house missing striker plates.

"It's a practice used to remove red phosphorous," Long said of the altered matchbooks. "Red phosphorous is used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine."

Soon agents had uncovered the equipment for a small laboratory broken down and hidden between a locker and duffel bag in the garage. Outside, they came across a hydrochloric acid gas generator stuffed in a garbage can. HLC generators are commonly used for cooking meth. Ecology experts warn that these discarded HLC generators are "under pressure, highly toxic and corrosive." Long said that dumping them in trash cans, as meth cookers sometimes do, constitutes a "very hazardous" threat to the public.

The ACCNET investigation soon led agents to the home of Halligan's girlfriend, 34-year-old Sara Mason, who lives in Ione. There, agents found methamphetamine-smoking equipment and evidence of methamphetamine sales. Agents also found 90 pharmaceutical pills and 180 grams of marijuana.

Four weeks ago, ACCNET agents broke up a different methamphetamine trafficking operation near Ione. Four adults were arrested and law enforcement called Child Protective Services to remove two juveniles and a 17-month-old baby from the home.

Halligan was booked into the Amador County Jail on suspicion of manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine, possession of ammunition by a felon and violation of probation. His girlfriend was issued a misdemeanor citation for possession of smoking paraphernalia.

A recent study by the University of Arkansas estimated that methamphetamine use among America's workforce costs the U.S. economy more than $21 million a year. The Carson City Anti-Meth Coalition sees the drug's toll as even more catastrophic in human terms, pointing out that meth use causes permanent facial disfigurement, skin sores and scabs, rotting teeth, anorexia, body tremors, convulsions, high blood pressure, seizures, severe mood swings, depression, paranoia and emotional instability. It also increases an individual's potential for violence.