DRUG-CHEMICAL BROKER GETS MAXIMUM SENTENCE

JUDGE SAYS SUPPLIER HELPED RUIN THOUSANDS OF LIVES

Saying she shared the responsibility for ruining thousands of lives, a San
Jose judge Wednesday threw the book at a 32-year-old woman who supplied
methamphetamine manufacturers with enough ingredients to make millions of
dollars worth of the street drug.

Convicted by a Santa Clara County Superior Court jury in August, Rosalinda
Vasquez Mendoza -- believed to be one of the Bay Area's biggest illegal
chemical brokers -- was sentenced to prison for 22 years, the maximum term
allowable under state law.

Mendoza had purchased nearly $700,000 worth of chemicals over the past four
years and then sold them at a profit to several clandestine drug-making
groups, said Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker.

In imposing the sentence, Judge Thomas Hastings scolded Mendoza and blamed
her for spreading harm to others.

``But for you, it wouldn't have happened. You were the person who made these
drugs available,'' Hastings said, accusing Mendoza of insulating the
manufacturers by taking payments in cash. ``You provided them with
chemicals. They made the methamphetamine. They distributed the same and they
ruined thousands of lives in this community and elsewhere in California.''

Mendoza, a resident of Oakland, came under the eye of the state's Bureau of
Narcotics office in San Jose in 1998. Agents combing through purchase
records noticed her name coming up repeatedly and began an investigation,
Baker said. The Department of Justice requires businesses to record each
sale, then turn over that information to them. This was how the state agency
was tipped to the large purchases made by Mendoza.

The information showed Mendoza had gone into two Bay Area chemical supply
houses at least 250 times to purchase chemicals. One of those businesses --
Custom Lab Supply in Oakland -- has since been closed.

A warrant was issued and Mendoza was arrested in November. She was taken
into custody at the home of a sister in Kern County.

Tuesday's sentencing should make some would-be manufacturers think twice
about doing business locally, suggested Baker, adding that the potential
costs far outweigh the benefits.

``The message is if you are going to manufacture methamphetamine in Santa
Clara County, you're going to spend a significant portion of your life
behind bars,'' he said.