Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008

Jailed UC Merced grad student may have been close to making superdrug

Police suspect West stole between $10,000 and $15,000 in equipment from UC

By VICTOR A. PATTON
vpatton@mercedsun-star.com

The criminal case of the Ph.D.-bound chemist took another strange twist Monday.

A cache of premium lab equipment stolen from UC Merced was among items turned up during a raid of a meth lab near Atwater, police said.

And authorities believe he may have been on the verge of unleashing a way to skirt federal regulations and make supermeth.

A team of investigators from the Fresno Methamphetamine Task Force and Merced County Sheriff's Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET) served a search warrant at a residence, at Elliot Avenue and Gurr Road.

At the home they said they discovered several thousand dollars worth of glass flasks, vessels, pumps and other equipment, in addition to chemicals such as sodium bicarbonate and acetone, which are used in the production of meth.

The bust is the latest chapter in the story of Jason West. West, a 36-year-old UC Merced chemistry student, was arrested last week on suspicion of stealing more than $10,000 in chemicals and equipment from a university lab over a period of three years to make meth.

NET Detective Paul Barile said the equipment and chemicals seized at the home were kept there by Francis Edward Womack, a 40-year-old Merced resident. Investigators believe the equipment was stolen by West -- but had been obtained and was being stored by Womack.

Womack wasn't at the home when investigators arrived -- and they're looking for him on charges of possession of equipment and chemicals for the purposes of producing meth.

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Monday's bust was the fourth that's turned up equipment and chemicals believed to have been stolen from UC Merced by West, Barile said. Investigators found equipment and chemicals at his home in the 100 block of Castle Drive in Atwater, in addition to a location on Moffet Road in rural Turlock, Barile said. Investigators also confiscated more equipment during a vehicle stop Friday night in Merced County.

Barile said investigators estimate West stole between $10,000 and $15,000 in equipment and chemicals from UC Merced -- equipment that Barile said is probably "worth its weight in gold" on the streets.

Although West is now behind bars, Barile said the equipment he allegedly stole remains in the hands of other meth producers.

"What has happened is that Jason West, in his time (at UC Merced), has taken so much property, it has now just flooded the streets," Barile said. "The people who are collecting these items are people that have histories of manufacturing methamphetamine."

What makes West's story even more bizarre is that investigators believe he was trying to manufacture a variety of meth that did not require ephedrine or pseudoephedrine -- two of the chemicals typically used to produce meth, Barile said. Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine can be hard for meth producers to get in large amounts because of federal controls on the drugs.

It's a technique that Barile said meth producers used during the 1970s to create the drug -- only West was trying to produce a more powerful drug with his knowledge of chemistry.

"It's kind of scary that he had this chemical background and was so knowledgeable," Barile said. "But yet he turned it to manufacturing methamphetamine -- and he's actually put a twist on it because there's a new type of meth that he's manufactured and put on the street."

Barile said investigators believe West produced several pounds of meth before his arrest. West was three months away from achieving his Ph.D. in chemistry and conducted most of his research at the university's off-campus labs near Castle Commerce Center in Atwater.

Officers with Merced County Sheriff's Department, UC Merced Police Department and state parole officers also participated in Monday's bust. Firefighters from Merced County Fire Department were on hand to provide help because of the hazardous chemicals at the site.

Officers with the Merced Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force and the Fresno Methamphetamine Task Force were involved in arresting West last week.

West faces charges of manufacturing meth and grand theft and is scheduled to be arraigned this week. He remains at the John Latorraca Correctional Center in lieu of $1.02 million bail.

Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached as (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.