TWO BEACH STORES SHUT DOWN OVER SELLING ALLEGED DRUG PIPES

NORFOLK - Two Virginia Beach stores have shut down, and their owners
have agreed to plead guilty to drug paraphernalia charges, state and
federal officials announced Wednesday.

The owners of G13 Handblown Inc., in the Larkspur Shopping Center on
Princess Anne Road, and Ocean Glass Designs, in the 100 block of First
Colonial Road, negotiated plea bargains with prosecutors.

G13 and Ocean Glass sold glass pipes and other glassware that the
store owners claimed were artwork, some of which they said were worth
as much as $100,000. The government says the pipes' primary use was
for smoking marijuana and other drugs.

G13 was charged Wednesday in a criminal complaint filed in federal
court with offering to sell drug paraphernalia. The company faces a
fine and forfeiture of items seized in April by the Drug Enforcement
Administration. Federal agents and local police had staged undercover
purchases of pipes from the store, court records say.

The owners of G13, John A. Belote and Kirk R. Joynes, have agreed to
plead guilty to related charges in state court, said their attorney
and the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney. No date has been set.

Ocean Glass was not charged in federal court, but its owner, Frank
Kinnear, also agreed to plead guilty, Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey
L. Bryant III said Wednesday.

Kinnear could not be reached for comment, and Belote and Joynes
referred questions to their attorneys.

James O. Broccoletti, the attorney for G13, said the agreement calls
for guilty pleas in state court to misdemeanors. No agreement on a
sentence was reached, he said.

Virginia Beach and federal authorities have been cracking down on
so-called "head shops" over the past several years, successfully
convicting store owners and shutting down several shops.

In one case, federal prosecutors won an important decision in the 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed the crackdown to continue. That
case led, in part, to the charges against G13, Ocean Design and their
owners. "The war on drugs must be fought on many fronts," U.S.
Attorney Paul J. McNulty said in a statement.

"Head shops are symbols of tolerance for drug use," he continued. "We
cannot turn a blind eye to those who willfully facilitate the abuse of
drugs." Officials would not say whether other stores would now be targeted.

There are similar stores operating in Norfolk, Chesapeake and other
Hampton Roads cities.

A third store, which was not identified, also was shut down recently,
but no criminal charges have been filed.