Two Duke Students Facing Ecstasy Charges

TEXAS CHEMIST AIDED DURHAM DRUG INQUIRY

DURHAM - Two Duke University students were arrested Tuesday on charges that
they tried to make the drug Ecstasy, and police were tipped off by a Texas
chemist who wrote a top guidebook on illegal drugs.

Evan Mathew Beard, 19, and Levi Stephen Karnehm, 20, of 318 Canterbury
Hall, GG2, on Duke's West Campus each were charged with possession of a
precursor to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled substance, arrest
warrants show.

A search warrant filed by Investigator M.L. Chamberlin accuses Beard of
placing an order for the chemicals using his roommate's credit card Oct. 4.

Magistrate D.E. VanVleet set Beard's bail at $2,000, while Karnehm's bail
was set at $4,000. They were being held in the Durham County jail pending
an appearance in District Court this morning.

According to the search warrant, Hobart Huson, 33, a chemist from Humble,
Texas, who co-owns The Science Alliance, which has sold chemicals over the
Internet, told authorities that on Oct. 4, he processed an order for
Ecstasy-making chemicals that were delivered to the Duke dorm room Oct. 9.

Police searched the dorm room Tuesday afternoon and seized 13 items,
including hydrochloric acid, sodium hydrochloride, cans of xylene and
acetone, scales, drug paraphernalia and goggles, the warrant says.

Under the pseudonym "Strike," Huson wrote "Total Synthesis II," described
on Amazon.com as "the most comprehensive and detailed book on the
underground production of Ecstasy and amphetamines ever published." The
book's disclaimer warns readers of legal and safety hazards of making Ecstasy.

Huson was arrested by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in June
and October and is being prosecuted in Arizona and California on Ecstasy
charges. Authorities were led to the chemist after a Texas raid involving
one of the nation's largest and most sophisticated Ecstasy labs, which
produced 1.5 million tablets monthly.

The three defendants in that case told authorities they bought most of
their chemicals from Huson's firm and learned how to manufacture Ecstasy by
reading his book. Huson also is one of 24 people being prosecuted in
California on charges involving another Ecstasy lab.

It couldn't be immediately determined whether Huson's tip on the Duke
students involved his cooperation with federal prosecutors.