Stakeout nabs meth suspects

WASILLA -- A Chugiak couple was arrested at the Grand View Inn Friday night after a stakeout revealed the pair was setting up a portable methamphetamine lab in their room, Alaska State Troopers reported.

The hotel staff tipped off troopers after Christopher C. Calkins and his wife, Inez M. Calkins, both 29, checked out of the Grand View Inn on Wednesday morning.

After checkout, cleaning staff found six empty boxes of cold-remedy medicine and six empty foil blister packs in the Calkinses' room, as well as several zip-closure plastic bags containing white powder residue, according to an affidavit filed by state troopers.

"There was a terrible smell in the room," said Sandra Joynes, general manager of the hotel. "I wasn't going to call the police at first, but I knew something wasn't right, so I called and reported what we found."

Troopers told Joynes her staff had discovered evidence of methamphetamine production in the room and that Christopher Calkins was already under investigation, Joynes said in a telephone interview.

Although Joynes didn't want the couple back in the hotel, troopers told her to book them a room if they called again. Sure enough, the Calkinses called two days later and booked a room for Friday night. This time, troopers were ready and waiting with a search warrant.

Members of the Mat-Su Drug Team set up a stakeout at the Grand View Inn Friday night, and watched Christopher and Inez unload several large black bags from their vehicles.

The Calkinses ate dinner downstairs at the Trophy Room Bar and Grill before they headed up to their room, Joynes said. At that time, troopers served the couple with a search warrant and found evidence of a portable meth lab in the room.

According to an affidavit filed by trooper Kyle Young of the Mat-Su Drug Team, all the couple's black bags except one contained items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

These items included hundreds of cold-remedy tablets, numerous matchbooks with the striker plates removed, red phosphorus, isopropyl alcohol, a two-burner hot plate, a coffee grinder with white powder inside and numerous other chemicals and byproducts.

The Calkinses were also both found to be in possession of a white powder substance that field-tested positive for meth, troopers reported, and their vehicles contained items and bags of trash related to the manufacture of meth.

The Calkinses were arrested at the hotel and charged with three counts each of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, a class A felony, and two counts each of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. They were transported to Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, where bail was set for each at $25,000 cash and a court-approved third party.

Court records showed Christopher Calkins also has a 1999 conviction for sixth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.

The arrests mark the 32nd methamphetamine bust this year for the Mat-Su Drug Unit, a record high. In May, state troopers arrested a couple for running a meth lab out of a room at the Gold Miner's Hotel in Palmer.

Owners estimated there was several thousand dollars' worth of damage done to that room. Troopers told Joynes that meth producers will often use hotel rooms for manufacturing meth, since all the materials needed to produce it can be easily transported.

"You can't always control what your guests do, unfortunately," Joynes said. "But I'm glad I decided to call the troopers. We cooperated with them fully, they got their arrest and now I know what to look for in the future. Hopefully there's another couple of people off the street now."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.