6 sheriff's workers exposed to meth chemicals

SOUTH SALT LAKE — Six people were decontaminated and taken to a local hospital after being exposed to meth-making chemicals in a Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office evidence room.

The four women and two men — identified as detectives and civilian employees — were going through drug evidence Wednesday that had been adjudicated by the courts.

Salt Lake County Neighborhood Narcotics Unit Sgt. Kevin Matthews said the evidence was going to be destroyed.

"They opened one of the bags and somehow iodine was booked into evidence," Matthews said. "They were immediately exposed. A burning sensation in the eyes, sore throats, burning in the lungs."

Two employees were indirectly exposed, South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote said. The others were in the room. The exposure was contained to the small evidence room inside the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Special Operations Division at 3510 S. 700 West.

Firefighters quickly set up a mobile decontamination trailer in the parking lot, where the victims had to strip down and shower in a conveyer-like set-up.

"It's mainly just a precaution on our part," Foote said.

Wrapped in white blankets, their hair dripping wet, the six victims were then led to waiting ambulances. Several pulled part of their blankets over their faces as they passed reporters because they are undercover narcotics officers, police said.

They were taken to St. Mark's Hospital to be checked out.

Investigators were looking into how the meth-making chemicals wound up with the narcotics. Foote said the bag contained 10 to 12 pounds of iodine and as much as 12 ounces of red phosphorus.

Matthews said meth-making chemicals are normally treated as hazardous waste and not kept as evidence.

"There is a possibility the deputy who booked it in did not perceive it to be iodine," he said. "It's not supposed to be there."

Exposure to methamphetamine labs has led to dozens of police officers dying or suffering chronic health problems. In the 1980s and 1990s, officers would investigate meth labs with very little — if any — protective gear. Some would inhale chemicals directly to determine what they were.

"You were trained to do this, you put your nose close to the container and you take your hand and you waft the odor toward your face," retired West Valley City narcotics officer Charles Illsley said.