TRIAL: DID SELLER KNOW PILLS WERE FOR METH?

U.S. Says He Sold Meds Knowing Of Illegal Use; Defense Sees No Evidence.

A federal prosecutor Monday accused a Taney County man of purchasing close
to 7 million pseudoephedrine pills in about 30 months and then selling them
in large quantities to people who used them to manufacture methamphetamine.

That man, David L. Deputy, 52, of Powersite, was one of 38 people indicted
a year ago in a regional law enforcement sweep dubbed Operation Ice Palace.

Federal, state and local agencies participated in the two-year undercover
operation, which sought to break up a large-scale pseudoephedrine
distribution ring supplying Ozarks meth cooks with a vital ingredient:
starch-based cold and allergy tablets.

Many of those indicted have pleaded guilty and will testify this week
against Deputy; Dalmer G. Wagner, 54, of Jonesboro, Ark.; and Monte W.
Vogt, 41, of Carl Junction.

At the start of their trial Monday, their lawyers said that the three, who
all pleaded not guilty, were engaged in a legal business and that there was
no proof that they sold more medicine than allowed by law.

The Prosecution's Case

Deputy, who has also been charged with money laundering, owned three
businesses that served as a regional pseudoephedrine hub, said Assistant
U.S. Attorney Randy Eggert.

The Castle in Forsyth -- characterized as a head shop that sold drug
paraphernalia and novelties -- routinely sold customers between 10 and 20
boxes of pills at a time, Eggert said.

Some of those customers would then go to the rear of the same building and
purchase more pills from a wholesale distributorship also owned by Deputy,
the prosecutor explained.

Deputy also operated another company, D&D Enterprises, which sold
pseudoephedrine pills in bulk to convenience stores and head shops like the
ones owned by Wagner and Vogt, Eggert said.

Wagner owns Mombay Variety Store and Behind the Door, two Jonesboro novelty
shops that sold pseudoephedrine pills purchased from Deputy's company,
Eggert said, noting that Wagner purchased more than 400,000 pills from D&D
over a 19-month period.

Vogt allegedly bought thousands of pills from Deputy through his three
businesses, often shifting them from a laundry he owns in Joplin to the
shelves of a convenience store next door, Eggert said. Vogt also sold the
pills at the 171 Smokeshop in Asbury, a store he owns near the Kansas border.

Eggert told jurors that one out of seven pills Deputy sold were purchased
by Wagner or Vogt, and that all three men had "reasonable cause to believe"
customers buying the pills were using them to make meth.

Defense Response

But Deputy's attorney, Elise Barker, argued Monday that her client was
licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to distribute
pseudoephedrine in 1999. The license was renewed in 2003, she said.

Prosecutors don't have "one iota of proof" that Deputy sold more pills than
the law allows or that he had any knowledge certain customers were buying
the medicine for meth-making purposes, Barker said.

"There was no clandestine business in this case," she said, suggesting that
Deputy's financial records reflect typical revenue and expenses associated
with a novelty store and distributorship.

She also told jurors that witnesses who will testify against Deputy later
this week have "significant incentives to alter their testimony," namely
lesser charges or plea agreements in exchange for taking the stand.

Wagner's attorney, Richard Bender, said his client refused to sell more
than the legal limit -- two packages at a time -- of pills when undercover
officers visited his stores in June 2003.

Attorney Dee Wampler described his client, Vogt, is a "moral, law-abiding
citizen" who hadn't met Deputy or Wagner in person before Monday.

Wampler said many items sold in convenience stores, such as alcohol,
cigarettes and diet pills, can be dangerous under certain circumstances,
but argued that Vogt can't be held liable for what customers may do with
those items.

"Monty is not everyone's keeper in the Joplin area," Wampler said.

Two defense attorneys -- Barker and Bender -- also tried to plant seeds of
doubt in jurors' minds about the credibility of an expert witness from
Maryland who will take the stand later this week.

Both attorneys said the witness has analyzed U.S. Census data to determine
how much money retailers, such as convenience stores, should be earning
from pseudoephedrine sales each month. That number is less than $30, they said.

The trial will resume with testimony today and is expected to last for at
least a week, attorneys said.