Suspected car burglar leads police to dangerous drug-making
vehicle
Morgan Hill – When a Morgan Hill Police officer thought he had hooked a suspected car burglar Wednesday night, he soon found he had actually landed a considerably bigger, and potentially more dangerous, fish.
Jon L. Leonard, 34, of Morgan Hill was arrested on suspicion for manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of narcotic paraphernalia and resisting arrest. He was taken to Santa Clara County Jail after he was interviewed by narcotics investigators.
MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson said Officer Rod Krewson was on patrol Wednesday night at approximately 9:30pm when he saw a male with a flashlight checking out cars in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn on Monterey Road. As Krewson approached the suspect, believing the suspect was about to break into a car, the suspect ran away.
Krewson and other officers chased Leonard and tackled him in the middle of Monterey Road. Officers found a glass pipe – typically used by meth users – on Leonard, as well as clear liquid in a plastic container that was suspected to be methamphetamine.
During a search of Leonard’s vehicle, officers found what they believed was a mobile meth lab: glassware, chemicals and approximately one ounce of meth valued at $2,000.
The Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team, or UNET, picked up the mobile lab and the chemicals from MHPD for processing and analysis.
“This could have been a very dangerous situation,” Sampson said of the lab parked in the motel parking lot. “The potential is there for fire and explosion, for a passerby to be seriously injured.”
Leonard could face as many as four years in prison for the felony manufacturing charge, Sampson said.
“Bringing in a supplier, just as we did earlier this week, is important because it is these types of criminals that fuel all the other issues,” he said. “The burglaries, the under the influence charges, many of those things stem from using meth. It’s all a cycle, and when you can bring in the supplier, take him off the street, that’s important.”
