Pubdate: Sat, 24 Jun 2006
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2006 Reno Gazette-Journal
Contact: http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter-to-editor.php
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author: Jaclyn O'Malley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that 
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

HYSTERICAL TERROR IS THE NORM WHEN METH ADDICTS FACE JAIL

A 25-year-old felon in February had an appointment with probation 
officer Kara Kelly in Reno that included a drug test.

When Christopher Tallman was told he would be jailed because his 
urine tested positive for methamphetamine, he flew into a panicked 
rage. He lunged for the officer's handgun and the two fell into a 
violent scuffle that ended when the officer shot Tallman in the head 
and killed him.

The incident is an example not only of the prevalence of meth use 
with convicted felons, authorities say, but the hysterical terror 
meth addicts feel when faced with being incarcerated again.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin Erickson, who prosecutes 
habitual criminals with at least three felonies, said most of her 
cases are connected to meth.

"Meth is so common," she said. "It seems like at every sentencing 
hearing they say they have a horrible drug problem, usually meth, and 
need help despite having numerous opportunities."

Violent reactions

Convicted murderer Robert Dean Ellsworth, 45, remained free for just 
a year before he was arrested in 2004 on meth and weapons charges. 
Ellsworth, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole 
for murdering a pharmacist in 1988, was spotted entering a casino -- 
a violation of his parole -- and police tried to arrest him.

But when confronted, he reached in his waistband for a loaded stolen 
pistol before officers subdued him. Court records showed he had a 
meth addiction and was unemployed at the time, but he was sent to 
federal prison and remains there on the weapons violation.

"Unless they really want to kick their drug habit, it will be 
difficult for them to leave their life of crime as long as they are 
addicted and don't get treatment," Erickson said. "They can't hold 
down a job and the only way to score their next fix is to steal. Each 
has his own bottom, but it seems meth addicts will do anything as 
long as they can get it."

Erickson said most of her meth-related cases involve felons stealing 
things from retail stores to trade for drugs. Many commit robberies 
or burglaries.

Maury Reichelt, a Nevada parole and probation officer, said felons 
who are addicted to meth are like Tallman --- paranoid and violent.

"We deal with these people all the time when they are sober and we 
get to know them," he said. "But when they're on meth, we can't 
reason with them. They are crying, upset and violent. If we try to 
arrest them, they don't want to go. They flat out say 'I won't go.'"

A risk to themselves and the community

In 2003, John McCoy Jr., a 23-year-old auto thief high on meth, tried 
to ram police cars and run over an officer before he was shot to 
death in a convenience store parking lot.

Part of the problem, Reichelt said, is that meth addicts stay up for 
days at a time and become paranoid.

"One guy had drilled two waist-high holes the size of a finger in a 
garage door and the officer asked him why," Reichelt said. "He said 
when he was doing drugs he thought neighbors were out to get him and 
he was able to look at them at all hours."

Sometimes their psychosis can cause injury, as well as death, the 
parole officer said.

"Another guy thought I knew he just used and I was going to drug test 
him so he didn't show up," he said. "A week later I get a call 
there's a guy on the roof yelling that I am out to get him in a 
little red car down the street.

"Officers had a hard time getting him to come down ... he finally 
jumped off, landed on one leg, breaking it in half, but that didn't 
stop him from running," he said. "Pepper spray didn't stop him, 
neither did being shot with a Taser. Three officers had to take him 
in custody. He was a threat to his own safety."

Like Ellsworth, some felons possess firearms, which is illegal, and 
can pose an added risk to the community and parole and probation officers.

"The speech I give them is no weapons, nunchakus, anything that 
Jackie Chan has, you can't have ... no baseball bats, butcher knives 
or vicious dogs with no collar," he said. "But that won't guarantee 
they won't be armed."

In other incidents:

Elliot had served in the military and was awarded two Bronze Stars 
for valor. He said he committed his crimes after using drugs to 
escape reality both here and in the Gulf War in 1990 and Somalia in 
1992-93. When officers confronted him, police said, Elliot pointed a 
gun at them because he wanted them to fatally shoot him so he 
wouldn't be sent back to jail.

Elliot had been wearing a police hat, badge and pins. He was shot 
with a Taser gun and taken into custody. He had methamphetamine in 
his possession, police said, although he had graduated from the 
county's drug court program. He was sentenced to serve more than 13 years.
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