SUPPLY FIRM QUESTIONS TIMING OF POLICE RAID

Police Have Investigated American Agriculture For Years Looking For
Marijuana Connections

Portland police raided an agricultural supply store in Southeast
Portland that has been the subject of controversial telephone traces
by police in an attempt to find and arrest marijuana growers.

Police also raided the Beavercreek and West Linn homes of the owner
and manager of American Agriculture, seizing computers, business
records and other items they think are connected to marijuana growing.
Police made no arrests.

The Thursday raids came a month after a judge questioned why police
had not acted after more than four years of investigating American
Agriculture and three months after the business filed a federal
lawsuit claiming police had violated its civil rights.

"I thought their timing was interesting," said Spencer Neal, an
attorney representing the business. "It is, at best,
suspicious."

Lawyers for American Agriculture sent a letter Friday to City Attorney
Jeff Rogers saying that the raids amounted to intimidation and
demanding that computers and documents be returned. Rogers was out of
the office Friday and was unavailable for comment.

However, there is no connection between the court cases and the timing
of the search warrants, said Capt. James Ferraris, head of the Drugs
and Vice Division. Ferraris said that the investigation continues and
that he could not comment further.

Police have used a so-called "trap and trace" on the telephone at
American Agriculture at 9220 S.E. Stark St. The trap provides police
with the telephone numbers of incoming calls without the knowledge of
American Agriculture. More than 20 criminal defendants facing drug
manufacturing charges are fighting those accusations, claiming the
trap was illegal.

During a court hearing May 4, Officer Nathan Shropshire testified that
the Marijuana Task Force was formed in February 1995 for the purpose
of investigating American Agriculture and owner Richard H. Martin Jr.
When asked whether the purpose of the task force had changed,
Shropshire said no.

Circuit Judge Michael Marcus wondered what more evidence police needed
against American Agriculture after investigating nearly 500 suspected
marijuana growers based on information from surveillance of the
business and its phone records. Marcus compared the four-year
investigation to planting petunias in a hole so deep that you need a
ladder to climb out.

"At what point is the investigation something else?" Marcus
said.

Shropshire's testimony about the task force also surprised Neal, who
said police clearly had used the information to arrest marijuana
growing suspects.

"That contradicts what he's said in earlier affidavits, and it's
simply dishonest," Neal said.