DRUG DEALERS GETTING HEFTY PRISON SENTENCES

It hasn't been a good year for offenders accused of buying or selling
so-called club drugs, such as Ecstasy and GHB. In March, a grand jury
returned murder charges against two people in their friend's overdose death.

Randall Corbett of Erwinville and Heather Smith of Baton Rouge were
arrested after 32-year-old Marsha Fisher was found dead in her home off
Cedarcrest Avenue. Prosecutors say Corbett, Smith and Fisher were friends
who used drugs together.

That friendship turned deadly, prosecutors say, when Corbett gave Smith
money to buy Ecstasy and Fisher had an adverse reaction to the drug.

Paramedics found her dead in her bed.

Corbett and Smith await trial for second-degree murder. If convicted as
charged, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

In another case involving club drugs, the owner of an LSU-area tanning
salon entered a plea agreement under which he got a 20-year prison sentence.

He was arrested after police found GHB, gamma hydroxybutyric acid, inside
his business.

The salon operator, Douglas Pollock, 31, pleaded guilty in July to
possession of GHB in excess of 200 grams but less than 400 grams.

Prosecutor Charles Grey said Pollock was selling drugs out of Tiger Tan on
Nicholson Drive.

Narcotics investigators pulled Pollock over last year and found a cache of
illegal drugs in his car.

An incident report gives this inventory of the drugs seized: cocaine,
Valium, Xanax, Lortab, Vicoprofin, LSD, marijuana and GHB.

Authorities also found marijuana rolling papers, a marijuana pipe, two
digital scales with cocaine residue, a credit card with cocaine residue, a
crack pipe, a straw with cocaine residue and some baggies, the report said.

More GHB was found at Pollock's girlfriend's house and in the tanning
salon, the report said.

Pollock agreed to a 20-year prison sentence rather than stand trial on
multiple charges.

"He'd have been in the 30- (to) 40-year range," Grey said of the possible
sentence Pollock faced if convicted as charged.

Last year, the Legislature lowered sentences for many nonviolent crimes,
including drug offenses. But serious distributors still can draw lengthy
prison time.

The Legislature slashed maximum sentences but maintained mandatory prison
time for more serious possession and distribution charges.

Overall, Pollock's case involved more than 3 pounds of GHB, authorities say.

"Those cases involving more than 2.4 pounds of GHB are likely to receive a
similar 20-year sentence," Grey said.

Two men arrested in March for allegedly selling gamma butyrolactone, or
GBL, also should receive stiff sentences, he said. GBL is mixed with sodium
hydroxide or potassium hydroxide to make GHB.

Police arrested 22-year-old Chad Keller as he was allegedly delivering GBL
to an apartment on Longridge Avenue. Keller allegedly had about a
half-gallon of GBL in his pickup.

The next day, 38-year-old Kirk Haydell surrendered to police and was booked
with possession of more than 400 grams of butyrolactone with the intent to
distribute it.

Haydell's 32-year-old brother, Mitchell, was arrested a week earlier after
detectives got a tip that a man named Johnny Dollar was selling GHB from
his Coursey Boulevard apartment.

Dollar offered an undercover sheriff's deputy 2 gallons of GHB for $850,
according to his arrest warrant.

The deputy gave Dollar $850, and Dollar kept $150 and paid $700 to Mitchell
Haydell for supplying the GHB, arrest warrants say.

Dollar and Mitchell Haydell both were arrested.

Grey said he plans to seek maximum prison time for the men.

"Obviously, our office is taking really seriously the recent influx of
criminal activity involving GHB and GBL," he said.

That might not be welcome news for a former District Attorney's Office
investigator arrested last month after police allegedly found 80 ounces of
suspected GHB in his government-issued car.

James Kendrick was fired after his arrest. He hasn't yet been prosecuted.