YEAR-LONG PROBE NABS 48 IN COLO., CALIF.

Friday, August 31, 2001 - Three Ecstasy distribution networks in
Colorado and California have been crippled by the arrests of at least
48 people, 37 of whom were indicted last week by a federal grand
jury, authorities said Thursday.

The sweep Wednesday and Thursday culminated a year-long probe that
officials said linked the suppliers to Air Force Academy cadets in
Colorado Springs, to the death of 16-year-old Brittney Chambers in
Superior, and to a rave party in Wyoming this summer.

"Two major drug distribution organizations have been dismantled and a
third severely disrupted," said Asa Hutchinson, head of the Drug
Enforcement Administration, who flew in from Washington to announce
the arrests. "Ecstasy is the No. 1 drug problem among youths in urban
areas. It has become their drug of choice."

A federal grand jury in Denver indicted 37 people in Colorado last
week on charges of conspiracy and distribution of LSD, marijuana and
the club drugs Ecstasy and ketamine.

During the arrests, DEA agents executed nearly a dozen search
warrants, confiscating 85,000 Ecstasy tablets; 2.5 kilograms of
cocaine; 320 pounds of marijuana, along with 4,100 plants; 5 pounds
of methamphetamine; 40,000 tablets of LSD; $1.36 million in cash; 13
vehicles; and 36 weapons.

Evidence was seized in Chicago, Colorado and California. About 25,000
tablets of Ecstasy were seized in Chicago shortly after they arrived
from New York. Most of the marijuana and a large part of the cash
were seized in California.

John D. Sposit, 26, of Lakewood, and Megan M. Schey, 24, and Shawn
Sweeney, 20, both of Fort Collins, were charged with distributing the
Ecstasy pill that was linked to Chambers' death. They could face life
in prison.

Sposit, Mark B. Merton, 29, of Aurora, and Vladislav Radosavljevic,
28, of Littleton were charged under the "drug kingpin" statute, which
carries a minimum prison sentence of 20 years.

Most of the suspects who were still at large contacted lawyers and
were preparing to turn themselves in, prosecutors said.

More than half of those arrested were released on bond Thursday afternoon.

Defense attorneys declined to comment.

Hutchinson said investigators were particularly pleased because the
probe linked the suppliers to Chambers' death, to the six cadets
court-martialed on drug charges last year, and to the Wyoming party.

The investigation began last August when a Colorado state trooper
stopped a car in Colorado Springs carrying 1,000 tabs of Ecstasy,
which investigators traced to the source, Hutchinson said.

Drugs seized in Northern California in October and in Wyoming in
November were traced to the same source, he said.

After the Air Force Academy expulsions and Chambers' death at a party
for her 16th birthday, federal agents grabbed 20,000 more tablets in
Sacramento and traced them to the source, he said.

"That's when the international aspect took hold," Hutchinson said,
noting that agents were able to track the pills from the domestic
sources to manufacturers in the Netherlands.

None of the 37 who were indicted were in the military, although the
investigation included officers from the Air Force Academy, Fort
Carson and Peterson Air Force Base, according to Air Force Col. Gary
Triplett.

He said investigators on military bases found only users and no
dealers. Some of the users were from the Cheyenne Mountain complex,
but no one from NORAD was involved, he said.