Prosecutors Say Men Made, Distributed GHB

3 ON TRIAL IN DATE RAPE DRUG CONSPIRACY

They are also accused of misleading the people to whom they distributed the
GHB by not labeling it.

- -- Three men charged with participating in the manufacture and distribution of
a popular sedative and so-called "date-rape drug" went on trial Monday in
federal court in Roanoke.

Federal prosecutors allege that Gary Duane Ellis, Tracy Christopher Lupton
and Shawn Franklin Plogger, all of Roanoke, conspired to make and
distribute GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate.

"These are drugs just like any other drugs, and these people are drug
dealers like any other drug dealers," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony
Giorno in his opening argument.

Ellis, 31, is accused of making the drug in his kitchen before it was
outlawed by the federal and state governments earlier this year.

Because at the time the GHB was produced it was still legal to possess, the
charges allege the men conspired to manufacture a drug in a facility not
approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. The defendants are also
accused of misleading the people to whom they distributed the GHB by not
labeling it.

GHB is made by mixing a common industrial solvent with sodium hydroxide
(lye), the active ingredient in Drano, and water.

"What they had there was a lab to make GHB, which was distributed," Giorno
said of the Roanoke dwelling where Ellis roomed with Lupton.

In addition to being a popular way to get high, GHB is supposed to increase
muscle mass, which has made it popular with bodybuilders. It is also
supposed to burn fat and promote sleep.

Tony Anderson, Ellis' attorney, did not deny that Ellis, a Northside High
School graduate and football player who later got into bodybuilding, had
manufactured GHB.

"One did not need any scientific background to manufacture GHB and Mr.
Ellis did that," Anderson said. "His involvement was that he manufactured
this GHB," Anderson added.

"Mr. Ellis is not proud of it," Anderson continued.

"But he never intended to mislead or defraud anyone," he added.

Anderson noted that GHB was not a drug targeted by the Drug Enforcement
Administration until March and so the case was not about drugs.

"This was not a scheduled controlled substance like a drug case," Anderson
said.

Lupton and Plogger , both 27, are also accused of distributing GHB. A
fourth defendant, Joseph Blake Bailey, of Roanoke, who was also charged,
pleaded guilty Monday morning.

The trial continues today.