Affidavits reveal details of drug investigation

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - A Nevada man told investigators he made two pounds of methamphetamine in a garage at the home of a Great Falls middle school teacher, according to prosecutors' affidavits.

They were filed Thursday against teacher Joe Flood and other suspects in what authorities describe as a drug ring that may have made and sold more than 60 pounds of methamphetamine, mostly in Nevada.

Flood, 33, taken into custody Dec. 6, is one of five people arrested in Cascade County. The Paris Gibson Middle School art teacher is accused of accountability to making methamphetamine and accountability to possessing it with intent to distribute. Flood also is charged with possession of methamphetamine and chemicals.

Other defendants include David Adkins, 48, of Great Falls, owner of the Ulm ranch where Flood lived.

Investigators believe Adkins, Kenneth Chandler, 50, and Melvin Cowperthwaite, 48, both of Carson City. Nev., cooked methamphetamine at the ranch, then distributed it from a Great Falls motel and from Adkins' home.

All three are charged with accountability to making methamphetamine and other felonies. Adkins' son, Christopher Adkins, also faces a methamphetamine possession charge.

The affidavit details an FBI investigation that began in May in Carson City. According to the indictment, several informants put Nevada investigators on the trail of methamphetamine laboratories in Nevada, and ultimately information led to Montana.

Agents, aided by a Nevada chemical company that kept them informed of suspicious sales, also found that some Nevada convenience stores had ordered large amounts of medicines containing pseudoephedrine, one of the chemical building-blocks of methamphetamine.

On Nov. 22, agents followed Cowperthwaite from a Great Falls motel to the ranch in Ulm, and a week later agents saw two men disappear into a barn and stay there for several hours, according to the affidavit.

Search warrants were executed Dec. 5. The next morning, David Adkins was arrested after a high-speed chase. Chandler, Cowperthwaite, Christopher Adkins and Flood also were arrested.

A search of Flood's home revealed methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine recipes, the affidavit said. It does not indicate Flood manufactured methamphetamine.

Flood, suspended from his work as a teacher, and Christopher Adkins were released from custody after posting bail. David Adkins, Chandler and Cowperthwaite remained in the Cascade County regional jail Friday.

In Nevada, at least 18 people have been arrested in the case.