HUSBAND, WIFE OUSTED FROM MILITARY FOR SELLING DRUGS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan - A husband and wife who were found guilty of
selling drugs to a Yokota High School student were ousted from the
military and sentenced to jail.

The courts-martial for Mathew P. Scheurer, a former senior airman in
the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron, and Anne M. Scheurer, formerly an
airman in 374th Supply Squadron, ended Tuesday after six days.

Air Force Capts. Christopher Schumann and Rick Pakola, the
prosecutors, called the Scheurer drug case "one of the most serious
in the Pacific in the last several years. Their level of involvement
[with drugs] is the highest that we've seen so far," Schumann said.

Believed to be regular drug users for at least eight months, the
young couple shared their drug habit with a 17-year-old Yokota High
School student, Schumann and Pakola said.

Mathew Scheurer, 23, received a dishonorable discharge, which "you
don't see often," Schumann said. He also was sentenced to three years
in prison.

Anne Scheurer, 20, was given a bad conduct discharge and 2 1/2 years in prison.

Both were reduced in rank to airman basic and ordered to forfeit all
pay and allowances.

The Scheurers were convicted of using methamphetamine, Ecstasy and
LSD. Most of their drug use occurred from January 2000 through August
2000, on base, and in the Tokyo area, the attorneys said.

The Office of Special Investigation at Yokota was tipped to the case
by a co-worker of Anne Scheurer. The woman told investigators that
Scheurer talked almost every day at work about using drugs.

Two witnesses testified about their drug involvement with the couple.
They also are being court-martialed.

The Scheurers' courts-martial were separate.