8 ARRESTED IN 'DATE RAPE' DRUG CRACKDOWN

Crime: Task Force Seizes Substantial Quantities of GHB in Raids in Six
L.A.-Area Communities.

LOS ANGELES -- Eight suspects were arrested and substantial quantities
of illicit drugs were seized in a series of raids on a Los
Angeles-area ring specializing in the sale and distribution of the
"date rape" drug known as GHB, a law enforcement task force said Thursday.

Officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs Service,
Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
and other agencies made the arrests and confiscated the drugs
Wednesday in Echo Park, Hollywood, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Tarzana
and Toluca Lake. The raids were part of a nationwide crackdown on
distributors of GHB, or gamma hydroxybuteric acid, officials said.

Agents said the ring used the Internet and the mail to sell and
distribute GHB and its derivatives. The drug can cause dizziness,
drowsiness, memory loss and loss of inhibition. The DEA said it has
documented 72 deaths related to GHB and its derivatives.

Booked on suspicion of possession of controlled substances for sale
and unlawful distribution of controlled substances were Kenneth
Kleckner, 32, Brian Riedlinger, 38, and Brian Smith, 42, all of Los
Angeles; Christine Laguna, 27, and Kevin Saltzer, 42, both of Pacific
Palisades; Craig Collins, 56, of Malibu; Richard Samaan, 28, of
Tarzana; and Kevin Lacy, 35, of West Hollywood.

Confiscated during the raids were a .30-caliber rifle, hypodermic
syringes and "substantial quantities" of GHB, anabolic steroids,
cocaine, methamphetamines, marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and other
illicit pharmaceuticals, the DEA said.