Mike.Saccone@gjsentinel.com

Look out felons: The Dog is in town.

Duane “Dog” Chapman, the star of the popular “Dog the Bounty Hunter” cable-television show, dropped by the Mesa County Justice Center late Wednesday afternoon before embarking on a manhunt for 12 to 14 wanted men.

“Methamphetamine has come to Mesa County, so we don’t like that,” Chapman said, standing outside the courthouse and flanked by excited court-goers.

“It’s kind of like running rampant up here, so we’re here to do what we can do,” he said.

Chapman, who had his bounty hunting crew and a TV crew in tow, said they plan to pick up “some of the top players in the meth world.”

Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, who accompanied Chapman inside the courthouse, confirmed that “Dog” is working to find at least one wanted man or woman in Mesa County.

“We’re happy we have a professional bounty hunter who can help catch one of our fugitives,” Rubinstein said.

Chapman declined to comment on who asked him and his crew to come here, but called them “law-abiding citizens.”

“We just got here,” he said. “We plan to stay here until our mission is completed. We should take a week to line up like 12 guys.”

“You should just beware there’s a dog out there,” Chapman’s wife and bounty-hunting partner, Beth Smith, said.

Smith said the episode on their work in Mesa County should air about three months after they haul in the suspects.

She said she is familiar with western Colorado because her mother used to operate a bed and breakfast near Salida.