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Nå ok, emnet var gammelt. Det hele copy'er jeg lige over her:
Chemist sentenced for selling Ecstasy ingredients
A Texas man, known to the illegal drug world as "Strike," was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison in Coconino County Superior Court.
Hobart Huson, 35, was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of sale of chemicals and equipment to produce dangerous drugs. He had been indicted originally with four felony counts.
The charges stemmed from a multi-agency drug bust June 22, 2000, in Flagstaff that revealed what was at the time Arizona's largest Ecstasy manufacturing lab.
Five people were arrested in the raid. The state High-Intensity Drug Traffic Area task force, made up of members of state and local law enforcement, served a search warrant at 790 N. Canyon Terrace.
Agents found hundreds of doses of Ecstasy, cash, guns, hallucinogenic mushrooms and stolen property. Another search warrant served at a local mini-storage ended in the seizure of thousands more doses of Ecstasy, glassware and equipment, chemicals and more cash.
Three defendants arrested in the bust admitted that they purchased most of their supplies from Science Alliance, a chemical company where Huson was part-owner.
They also claimed they learned how to make Ecstasy by reading one of Huson's books.
Huson wrote under the pseudonym of "Strike" two books, "Total Synthesis" and "Total Synthesis II," which give details on how to manufacture Ecstasy. He also was considered by federal and state prosecutors to be the designer and overseer of the Web Site called "The Hive," which gave information on the use and manufacture of Ecstasy.
Huson's operation was also the focus of a TV installment of "Dateline NBC."
According to Coconino County Superior Court records, four of the Flagstaff defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Three received probation. One received a short jail sentence.
The ringleader had all charges dismissed.
Sgt. Randy Weems, lead agent with the Metro anti-narcotics task force in Flagstaff that helped in the June 2000 raid, said the charges were dropped because the ringleader agreed to help prosecutors go after Huson.
Weems said the sentence was a fair one.
"I think it sends the message that if you're going to make dangerous drugs in our county, you're going to have to pay your dues if you get caught," Weems said.
The manufacture of dangerous drugs, such as Ecstasy and methamphetamine, leaves behind toxic messes for counties to clean up, Weems said.
And the drugs that are produced are so powerful that they destroy people's lives.
"It's tearing society apart," Weems said.
At Huson's sentencing in Flagstaff, his attorney, Steve Harvey, of the county public defender's office, said Huson simply sold the chemicals to a company in Flagstaff called G3. He made no direct contact with the Flagstaff defendants on how to manufacture Ecstasy.
"He basically knew or should have known what the G3 conspirators were up to," Harvey said.
Harvey said Judge Fred Newton should show leniency because Huson did not actually manufacture the Ecstasy, especially since the Flagstaff defendants all received probation.
Huson has a prior felony conviction for a similar offense in 1996, Harvey said.
Harvey suggested the minimum sentence of four years in prison.
Newton asked Huson if he had anything to say before he handed down the sentence.
"Thank you for being fair to me," Huson said.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Hoffmeyer, in turn, requested that Newton impose the maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
"Mr. Huson has a very long pattern and experience with Ecstasy," she said, mentioning Huson's knowledge of what chemicals are needed and his scientific expertise to manufacture the drug.
The fact that Huson merely shipped the chemicals did not wash with Hoffmeyer.
"They would not have been able to make Ecstasy without the chemicals Mr. Huson was providing," Hoffmeyer said.
The fact that Huson cooperated with federal authorities to bust other manufacturing operations should not detract from a maximum sentence either, Hoffmeyer said.
"I have found him to be very selective in his cooperation," Hoffmeyer said.
She said Huson kept other labs secret that he must have known about. Prosecutors found out about the possibility of other labs through business records of Science Alliance.
Newton said his decision to sentence Huson to seven years hinged on the fact that Huson had been convicted for a similar offense in the past. He also said he was unable to find that Huson would be rehabilitated.
"I do find he is a danger to society ..." Newton said, adding that Ecstasy has been known to kill people who take the drug.
Hoffmeyer said after sentencing that she does not know if Huson will be shipped to other jurisdictions where Ecstasy labs were found -- using chemicals bought from Science Alliance to manufacture -- to face similar charges in the future.
Huson's sentencing in Coconino County comes on the heels of a federal sentencing on similar charges, where he received eight years in prison.
Those charges stemmed from an October 2001 raid on a drug lab in Escondido, Calif.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Southern California, the lab was "one of the largest and most sophisticated Ecstasy laboratories ever identified in the United States ..."
Prosecutors in California accused that Huson, through Science Alliance, "... supplied clandestine laboratories throughout the United States with chemicals and glassware used to manufacture controlled substances."
Huson's sentence in Coconino County is to run simultaneously with the 8-year sentence handed down by the federal courts. If he is released before seven years, Huson must complete the remainder of the seven years in prison in Arizona, Hoffmeyer said.
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Chemist sentenced for selling Ecstasy ingredients
By LARRY HENDRICKS
Sun Staff Reporter
02/12/2004
Frtom Arizona Daily Sun[/b]
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