Police arrested two Goshen residents after being called to the scene of an alleged methamphetamine lab late Thursday.

Scott D. Benton, 36, and Jennifer L. McLead, 31, both of 15666 C.R. 44, were arrested on felony charges of manufacturing methamphetamine, maintaining a common nuisance and possession of a legend (requiring a prescription) drug, and misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. They were incarcerated in the Elkhart County Jail.

Elkhart County police went to the C.R. 44 home around 10:15 p.m. Officers had been given information from the Interdiction and Covert Operations (ICE) unit that an active meth lab was in the residence.

Members of the Indiana State Police clandestine lab unit assisted in processing the scene.

Topping the list

Meth lab busts in Elkhart County are nothing new.

Some may say we’re getting good at it.

Indiana police agencies report seizing 24 percent more methamphetamine labs in 2009 than the year before. According to State Police, the most seizures were in Elkhart County where 109 labs were found. Neighboring Marshall, Noble and Kosciusko counties each had at least 65 seizures.

The 1,364 seizures reported statewide last year topped the previous high of 1,137 labs seized in 2004.

Over the past several years, Elkhart County investigators concentrated more on the methamphetamine problem here and interrupted the supply of the drug, said Bill Wargo, chief investigator in the Elkhart County prosecutor’s office. As the drug became harder and more expensive to buy, many users resorted to making the drug themselves.

“When we came in here, we looked at the drug problem and meth was number one,” Wargo said.

The methamphetamine was imported here with the help of Mexican organized crime, he explained. The drug was plentiful and relatively cheap.

“We focused our resources to go after the supply side,” Wargo said. “We had success and interrupted the supply.”

The profile of the average user is white men and women, ages 18 to 34, who may work in manufacturing, Wargo pointed out.

Demand remained high, Wargo said, and employment declined the past two years. Users found that it was relatively easy to make their own drug with the ingredients readily available.

Wargo said also there is an alternate method of making the drug, the “one-pot” method, that does not use anhydrous ammonia as an ingredient. The use of the ammonia caused the strong, tell-tale odor that caused many drug operations to be uncovered by passersby and neighbors.

With this alternative method of making meth, the production has moved from being a rural operation to an urban one, Wargo said.

“There is less trash with the method,” Wargo said, “but it is still toxic and dangerous.”

Quite a few of these meth labs have been found in Elkhart, he said.

“I believe we are number one because we have focused a lot of effort on it,” Wargo said. “We have specially trained members of our ICE unit. We work with the sheriff’s uniform division, with Middlebury, Bristol and Nappanee police.”

Since December the activity seems to have slowed down, Wargo said, but he does not know the reason or if the trend will continue.

‘Recession doesn’t help’

Chad Hill, public information officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, said officers there are progressive in arresting people, which is why that county is ranked as sixth in the state in terms of lab seizures.

“The recession doesn’t help, and it is cheaper to produce it,” Hill said.

He also explained that the “one-pot” method of making meth uses common ingredients and omits the use of the anhydrous ammonia.

“Basically it’s a simple drug to make,” Hill said. “The instructions are on the Internet.”

The ingredients can be bought at a hardware or department store. Ingredients to look for are lantern fuel, starter fluid, lithium battery strips and cold medicine — pseudophedrin.

Hill said State Police are hopeful Indiana will begin using a statewide computer recordkeeping system to track cold medicine purchases. Now police must manually review the drug log records at pharmacies to learn who is buying pseudophedrin.

For Hill — and no doubt others — meth isn’t just a matter for the police. It’s personal.

“I have four kids,” Hill said. “I just pray my kids don’t try it.”