FEDS INDICT OAKLAND MAN, 54 OTHERS IN DRUG GEAR SALES

Agents Search Store, Warehouse of Smokey Mountain Trading Co

BRIGHTON -- In a nationwide sweep, federal authorities have indicted
55 people, including a West Bloomfield Township resident, on charges
of trafficking each year in tens of millions of dollars worth of drug
paraphernalia.

Alan Bruce Clute was released by a federal magistrate on a $10,000
personal bond and ordered to appear in Iowa on March 3 to face the
indictment on charges of selling and distributing drug paraphernalia,
such as ceramic pipes and other pipes used for smoking illegal drugs.

Clute, 55, is the owner of Smokey Mountain Trading Company in
Brighton.

Federal agents searched the company's warehouse and retail store in
Brighton, along with Clute's West Bloomfield home and seized enough
illegal material "to fill a 26-foot moving truck," said David
Jacobson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Detroit.

"The message we send today is that it is unacceptable and against the
law to profit from the sale of drugs or drug paraphernalia," said U.S.
Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins in Detroit, who called Clute a national
distributor.

The sales at Clute's company were worth millions annually, Jacobson
said. Smokey Mountain sold hundreds of items to a retail store in
Iowa, where the indictment was filed.

It is a federal crime to sell products mainly intended for the use of
illegal drugs. Those charged with selling items face up to three years
on prison and a $250,000 fine.

A search warrant in the Iowa case turned up more than $2 million in
illegal paraphernalia, authorities said.