Two charged in meth lab bust

Frontiersman Reporter

PALMER -- A Palmer pair were arrested last week and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine in a room at the Gold Miner's Hotel in downtown Palmer.

According to an affidavit by Alaska State Trooper Kyle Young of the Mat-Su Drug Unit, investigators were first alerted to the possibility of an active meth lab at the hotel when several trash bags caught fire in the back of a city refuse truck. The bags contained suspicious items, mixed in with trash that investigators traced back to the hotel.

Hotel management informed officers with the Palmer Police Department that room No. 305 was the only residence where they believed meth-related activity might be occurring. The guests of room No. 305 were identified as Donna Madigan and Jeffrey Kolody. According to hotel management, Madigan, 46, and Kolody, 35, had stayed in the room for eight or nine days, during which time they requested that no one enter or clean their room.

In his affidavit, filed at the Palmer courthouse, Young reports that on April 17 the residence of Kolody and Madigan burned to the ground, when a meth lab at their residence exploded and caught fire.

Young obtained a search warrant for the room and Kolody's vehicle, a black 1985 Dodge mini van. At that point investigators decided to first surveil the room and the occupants. Surveillance began the evening of May 14.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. the next day, Young and other investigators observed Madigan and Kolody as they left the Gold Miner's Hotel and went on a shopping spree, taking them from stores in Palmer to Eagle River, to Wasilla and back to Palmer. The suspects shopped in Palmer at the Fred Meyer store and at Schuck's Auto before heading to Eagle River for stops at Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer and a store in the Fire Lake Plaza. They reportedly returned to Palmer, shopped at Carrs and then finished shopping in Wasilla with stops at Wal-Mart, Shoprite and Carrs.

According to Young, the suspects shopped in a manner that he recognized as typical of people purchasing items for manufacturing methamphetamine. They entered many stores separately, through different entrances and often shopped separately, going into stores a few minutes apart or waiting for one to finish shopping before the other entered the store. Madigan allegedly changed her jacket at one point from a reddish jacket to a black one and then later reversed her black jacket so the gray liner was on the outside.

With assistance from store employees, investigators determined many items that the suspects purchased, including Sudafed, syringes, latex gloves and four boxes of book matches, according to the affidavit.

Approximately 90 minutes after the suspects returned to their hotel room, investigators executed the search warrant for room No. 305 and discovered an active meth lab, which included Coleman fuel, Red Devil lye, hundreds of book matches, matchbook covers with the striker plates removed and hundreds of striker plates with the red phosphorous removed, Young wrote. Other meth-related items included Heet, hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol, along with cookware, a hot plate and many other suspicious items.

Due to the extremely toxic nature of meth labs, the hotel room was closed until it can be properly decontaminated. According to the hotel's owner, Sol Fajardo, the room must be completely stripped bare. The room must be scraped clean with wire brushes then repainted, due to dangerous chemicals that seep into porous surfaces during the manufacturing of meth. Many items in the room are slated for disposal, including two queen-sized mattresses and the curtains. Fajardo said she has no idea what the final damages will amount to, but estimated it will be several thousand dollars.

Kolody and Madigan were arrested and are being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in Palmer, in lieu of $60,000 bail each.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.