 |
|
|
|
|
Firefighters discover PCP lab in Willow Glen
Police arrest two suspects in first case in 10 years
By Moryt Milo
A suspicious fire on Sept. 6 led to the discovery of an illegal narcotics laboratory in a residential neighborhood of Willow Glen. The home, located at 1653 Guadalupe Ave., housed the first clandestine lab manufacturing phencyclidine, commonly known as PCP, that local authorities have discovered in more than a decade.
The San Jose Police Department apprehended suspects Jose Tamayo, 43, and Mario Cisneros, 38, both of San Jose, on Oct. 26 and 27. They are being held in the Santa Clara County Jail on felony criminal charges with bail set at $2 million for each defendant. If found guilty, both defendants could face prison terms in excess of 14 years.
To safeguard against further criminal behavior, the suspects will have to prove that any money posted for bail is legitimate.
"We are not going to accept someone walking in here with a suitcase full of money," said Sam Giammona, Santa Clara County deputy assistant district attorney.
Giammona said police took this case very seriously.
"The amount of PCP uncovered at the scene was significant," Giammona said.
He said police found 20 gallons of the liquid chemical piperidine--the primary ingredient in PCP-- in a car in a suspect's garage. That amount would make approximately 70 pounds of PCP, he said.
Giammona said this is a huge quantity because a PCP user can achieve a high simply by dipping a cigarette into a small amount of PCP liquid.
He also said police found another 40 gallons of liquid in the basement. The liquid is used to manufacture methamphetamine.
San Jose firefighters discovered the lab after responding to an accidental fire at the home. After they extinguished the flames, they noticed a suspicious substance in the basement and called law enforcement to the scene.
Giammona said an agent from the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic and Enforcement with previous experience dealing with PCP cases first recognized the strong chemical odor, which causes nausea and eye and throat burning. He told everyone to leave.
Giammona said police found the home well-furnished with a large-screen television and new leather couches.
"Whoever was there was enjoying a good living," Giammona said.
A neighbor first spotted the fire after she smelled something funny and went outside to investigate, Giammona said.
"It was then that she noticed someone associated with the residents hopping into the car and peeling out," Giammona said.
Construction workers across the street also saw the fire and ran across the road, one worker carrying a fire extinguisher and yelling to the neighbor to call 911, Giammona said.
When firefighters arrived they found the fire contained to the basement. The basement had a dirt floor, cement walls and a cement ceiling, which stopped the fire from spreading.
Making PCP is a volatile process due to the flammable nature of the chemicals involved in its manufacture, and there are many ways mixing it can go wrong, Giammona said.
"It can blow up very easily," he said.
He said locating these labs is very difficult. PCP laboratories do not require much space, and those operating labs often have young women and children living there to create the appearance of normalcy.
"The manufacturers of PCP are more afraid of getting ripped off by the competition than the police," Giammona said.
Giammona has handled only a handful of PCP laboratory cases, most in the late 1980s, in his 13 years as a district attorney. He said once those responsible for manufacturing PCP were convicted and imprisoned, production of PCP stopped.
Giammona said he was alarmed by this incident and surprised it was located in Willow Glen.
"It is the only PCP lab we have seen in Santa Clara County in over a decade, and we took it very seriously," Giammona said. "We don't want to see a new generation of PCP users."
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
