Las Vegas men face charges in Internet designer drug investigation

Jace Radke

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

Two Las Vegas men were ordered to Baton Rouge, La., by a federal judge Thursday, after both were arrested and charged in a national investigation into alleged Internet sales of copies of popular designer drugs.

Michael Burton and Keith Russert, both 25, were arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents Wednesday as part of Operation Web Tryp, a federal investigation that targeted Web sites distributing designer drug analogues under the guise of being research chemicals.

U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt ordered Burton, who is accused of running a Web site known as American Chemical Supply, held without bail and ordered that Russert, alleged to be a runner in the scheme, be held unless he can come up with a $20,000 secured bond. Both will be sent to Baton Rouge, where they face charges of possession and illegal distribution of controlled substance analogues.

A 22-year-old man from St. Francisville, La., died in March after ingesting a substance he believed to be similar to Ecstasy that was purchased through American Chemical Supply, according to the indictment charging Burton.

Leavitt said that sworn affidavit that led to him issuing a search warrant for Burton's Las Vegas home, near Flamingo Road and Decatur Boulevard, and the facts of the case provided evidence that Burton knew that the analogues he was selling were for human consumption.

Some buyers had e-mail names such as acidtripo420, ecstasylight, partys-with-glow-sticks, psychedeleic-stoner and ravergirlny, DEA officials said.

Burton's Web site was one of five investigated by the DEA as part of Web Tryp, and the sales from the sites resulted in two fatal and 14 non-fatal overdoses, authorities said. A total of 10 people were arrested Wednesday in Georgia, California, Arizona and Nevada in connection with the investigation.

The products sold by the Web sites are synthetic substances chemically identified as tryptamines, piperazines and phenylethylamines, and are restricted and controlled under the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act, DEA officials said.

The products are often purchased and consumed by young people because they can produce stimulant and hallucinatory effects similar to Ecstasy or LSD, according to prosecutors.

Also ordered detained Thursday by Leavitt was David Linder, 50, of Bullhead City, Ariz., who is charged with using his landscape supply Web site to sell designer drugs to U.S. Navy personnel in Norfolk, Va. Drugs from the site killed an 18-year-old and caused at least three overdoses which caused serious injuries, the DEA said.

Linder will face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Federal prosecutors estimated that Linder had made at least $1.2 million since 1999 according to bank records. Prosecutors also alleged that Burton had money in foreign bank accounts in excess of $300,000 that authorities have not yet been able to locate.