A drug diversion program graduate from Nevada City is in jail after narcotics agents performed a search early Thursday and found more than a gram of methamphetamine, Nevada County sheriff's Capt. Ron Smith said.

When officers showed up at her father's home on Monte Vista Drive outside of Nevada City around 12:25 a.m. with a search warrant, Kathryn Hempel, 46, told them she's "been clean for years," Smith said.

However, when a female officer patted Hempel down, she found a bindle of methamphetamine stuffed down her pants, Smith said.

"(The officer) pulled (Hempel's) pocket inside out but she still felt something," Smith said. "There was a little over a gram in her pants."

Hempel had been investigated for drug-related offenses in 2002 and underwent a drug treatment program, Smith said.

In recent months, investigators received information that Hempel was keeping the company of known drug users, he said.

In addition to the meth, officers found digital scales, unused plastic baggies, smoking pipes and a hypodermic syringe at Hempel's home.

Hempel was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a hypodermic syringe.

She was booked into Wayne Brown Correctional Facility and her bail was set at $11,000, jail officials said.

ooo

To contact Staff Writer Robyn Moormeister, e-mail rmoormeister@theunion.com or call 477-4236.