DRUG CONSPIRACY TARGETED IN HEROIN DEATHS OF FOUR TEENS

PLANO, Texas - Twenty-nine suspected drug dealers have been indicted under
a special federal conspiracy law in connection with the heroin-related
deaths of four teenagers with ties to Plano, officials said yesterday.

A federal grand jury in the nearby town of Sherman issued the 36-count
indictment. It alleges that the 29 targeted Plano as a new market for
heroin. The defendants knew that the drug was killing young people but
continued selling it to them, the indictment charges.

"The defendants intentionally, in a very calculated and cold-blooded way,
distributed" heroin and cocaine, said U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford of the
Eastern District of Texas in announcing the indictments yesterday.

Although some of the defendants have been named in previous indictments on
charges of heroin delivery on a single occasion, the latest indictment
charges all 29 as a group in activities that include everything from
smuggling black-tar heroin into the United States to selling it on the
streets of Plano.

Because they were charged as a group, the suspected dealers can be
prosecuted together, and the possible punishments are much more severe,
given the resulting deaths, Bradford said.

All but five of the 29 could face a maximum term of life in prison because
of a rarely used sentencing-enhancement provision under federal law that
was not available at the state level.

"This is the first time we've used this provision of the law in the Eastern
District to specifically link drug dealing to drug-overdose deaths,"
Bradford said.

The Eastern District includes 43 counties across Texas.

"To date, throughout the U.S., something to this degree has never been
attempted," said Paul Villaescusa, a special agent with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

The indictment was the result of a yearlong investigation begun by the
Plano Police Department and expanded to include a task force of federal,
state and local law-enforcement agencies.

At least 18 youths with Plano ties have died heroin-related deaths since
September 1994, authorities said.

Police traditionally categorize drug-related deaths as accidental, due to
overdose, and consider the case closed, Villaescusa said. But Plano went
beyond that, he said.

In June 1997, Plano Police Chief Bruce Glasscock assigned a homicide
detective to investigate the deaths along with the narcotics unit.

Although the chief said he wanted to pursue murder charges against the drug
dealers, he was thwarted by state laws. Unless a drug dealer actually
injects or otherwise administers the fatal dose, he or she cannot be
charged with homicide under state laws, the chief said.

But the federal sentencing enhancement might be a way around that
roadblock, authorities said.

Bradford declined to reveal the evidence that directly links the indicted
people to the deaths of four Plano teenagers. The indictment alleges that
the dealers imported the heroin and cocaine from Mexico and distributed
large quantities to individuals and through a house in East Plano,
authorities said.

All but two of those indicted are in custody. One is in a rehabilitation
center and will be transferred to jail; another remains at large.

Lowell Hill, whose 19-year-old son, Rob, died of a heroin overdose on Aug.
20, 1997, said he was pleased with officials' quick action. "We just don't
want other people to die," he said, stressing that he and his wife were in
favor of drug testing for children as early as the fourth grade.

Jean Aguanno, whose son, Jay, 19, died of a heroin overdose on July 7 after
having been drug-free for eight months, said that she was in favor of
strong prosecution but that it came too late for her family.

"I kind of wish all this had happened a year ago so whoever was able to
supply Jay that night was already in jail," she said.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)