Indiana State Police bust meth maker

Greensburg, Indiana Police busted a methamphetamine manufacturer near his hotel room at Lees Inn Wednesday afternoon.

Marc Alan Miller Jr., 30, of Laurel, was arrested after a short foot chase, which concluded when Greensburg, Indiana Police Officer Steve Barnes tackled the suspect 100 yards from the hotel.

Acting on a tip from a citizen, police had already made entry into Miller's room shortly after 2 p.m., and were speaking with his companion, Brigette A. Bruce, 21 of Westport. Greensburg, Indiana Police Chief Bill Meyerrose was en route to meet with Judge W. Michael Wilke to get a search warrant when Miller returned to the room with two friends. He was confronted by Barnes and gave a false name. He was subsequently correctly identified by Bruce and when police attempted to arrest him, he fled.

He will be charged with resisting law enforcement, giving a false identification, attempted manufacture of methamphetamine and possession of precursors to manufacture the drug, commonly called "meth."

Bruce was arrested on a failure to appear warrant from Decatur County, Indiana on a possession of marijuana charge. She confessed to police there was marijuana and meth in the room.

Some of the hotel's residents were evacuated for safety concerns and both EMS and Greensburg, Indiana Fire Department personnel were called to the scene and remained for four hours until Indiana State Police declared it was no longer a hazard.

With both of the hotel room's occupants transported to Decatur County, Indiana jail, the GPD did a cursory search of the room and Miller's car to make sure there were no additional suspects. When they declared the scene clear, they stepped away and waited for Indiana State Police's Clandestine Lab Unit to arrive and conduct a search.

Local Indiana police had already spotted a cylinder in Miller's car, which police say was most likely used to steal and transport anhydrous ammonia, as well as hundreds of cold tablets containing ephedrine left in the open in the hotel room.

Indiana State Police's more thorough search turned up more than 900 ephedrine tablets, lithium, camping fuel and torches, all used to cook the drug, as well as other paraphernalia.

They opened the cylinder, while wearing full chemical suits, and found it empty. There were also two hand-held scanners and walkie-talkies found in the room.

When the Indiana State Police officers completed their search, Greensburg, Indiana Police officer Eric Blodgett searched the scene with his K-9 partner Zeb. The dog indicated there were drugs in the room and police were preparing to do another search.

"It doesn't appear he was manufacturing the drug in the room," said Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeff Kastenschmidt. "He had full camouflage gear, a backpack and portable stove. It looks like he uses the room to set things up and clean, but he does his cooking in the woods. It's very lucky he wasn't manufacturing the drug here. If the cooking fuel, lithium and other chemicals had a negative reaction, this situation could have been deadly."

Kastenschmidt's two-man team responded from Terre Haute, where they were investigating another meth lab. He said they were called on eight such searches last week. As a whole, the three Indiana State Police Clandestine Lab Units, established in 1990, have been called to the scene of 653 meth labs statewide this year.

Brad Morrin, a civilian chemist on the team, and Kastenschmidt laid out their find in the hotel parking lot.

"This guy was definitely not a beginner," Morrin said, looking over the cache. "He knows what he's doing and probably has been active for a while."