STORE GUILTY OF SELLING CRACK PIPE

Slender Glass Tube Houses 'Lover's Rose'

A Central City corner store intentionally sold crack cocaine pipes over the
counter, an Orleans Parish magistrate court has ruled.

The slender four-inch tubes encase tiny plastic roses and are marketed as a
"Lover's Rose," but law enforcement agencies across the nation have
identified the gaudy knickknack as having a double life as a crack pipe.
The tubes can be found near cash registers of stores in the suburbs as well
as the city. The Nguyens appeared in court Wednesday and opted for trial,
which they swiftly lost.

The Nguyens were found guilty of having illicit drug paraphernalia, a
misdemeanor, but won't serve jail time. Magistrate Commissioner Anthony
Russo sentenced each to six months in the parish prison, all suspended, and
one year of probation, along with $648 in fines and fees. Russo also
ordered them not to sell the glass pipes or scouring pads. While the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration and city police departments from
Seattle to Nashville, Tenn., have gone after merchants for selling just the
Pyrex glass tubes, this New Orleans case had its own added twist. The
Nguyens sold what resembled a prepackaged crack kit: the tube, plus a tiny
piece of steel wool, which crack users use as a filter when smoking, all
for a dollar.

The added snippet of steel wool was an obvious sign of illegal intention,
police said.

In November, an undercover officer entered the store and asked for "one
pipe," placing his dollar bill on the counter. The 6th District police were
tipped off by a neighborhood resident outraged that the store was selling
pipes in one of the city's hot spots for drug dealing. Police officers
quickly searched the store, finding more than 4,000 of the tubes in the
back, along with boxes of steel wool.

Typically, prosecutors accusing people of having illegal drug paraphernalia
have evidence of narcotic residue on the object to bolster their case. But
in this case, District Attorney Eddie Jordan's office won without a trace
of crack cocaine on the "Lover's Roses."