MAN ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH FATAL DRUG OVERDOSE

He Allegedly Sold Vial To Victim Over Internet

BATON ROUGE -- The Las Vegas-based owner of a company
that sells chemicals over the Internet was arrested this week by
federal agents and accused of selling drugs to a St. Francisville man
who died of an overdose earlier this year, U.S. Attorney David Dugas
said Thursday.

Michael James Burton used his Web site to sell the chemicals, known as
"drug analogues," which are similar to designer drugs such as Ecstasy,
Dugas said.

While the sale of such chemicals is allowed for research purposes, it
is illegal to distribute them if they will be used for human
consumption.

According to the four-count indictment issued in mid-July, Burton sold
the chemicals to James E. Downs of St. Francisville and other
customers knowing that they "were intended for human
consumption."

In early March, Downs, 22, consumed an unknown quantity of powder from
a 1,000-milligram vial he received from Burton, thinking the substance
to be similar to Ecstasy, investigators said.

Downs, a quadriplegic, apparently had taken the drug while waiting in
a car while his mother ran errands at a store. He later asked her to
take him to the emergency room, after which his body temperature rose
to 108 degrees.

He died four days later.

After Downs' death in early March, the Baton Rouge office of the Drug
Enforcement Administration and local police began an investigation
that became part of a larger DEA effort to target Web sites that sell
such chemicals.

This week, the DEA announced it had arrested 10 people involved with
five Web sites that sell chemical analogues they believe are for
illegal personal consumption.

Dugas said the federal government considers such sales to be
"particularly troublesome and dangerous" because people receive entire
vials of the products rather than controlled dosages, such as pills.

That means the danger of overdose is great, he said.

The DEA also has filed a criminal complaint against Burton's roommate,
Keith Russert, charging him with four counts of distribution of
analogues as controlled substances.