LITTLE-USED LAW INVOKED IN PLANO HEROIN DEATHS

If convicted, 29 could receive life sentences

When more than two dozen suspected drug dealers were indicted in connection
with heroin-related deaths in the Plano area, federal officials invoked a
rarely used but powerful federal law that allows them to seek tougher
sentencing.

They did so through a carefully constructed web that included a tight
network of informants, a lot of legwork and cooperation from the community.

"We could connect the deliveries of the drug to the deaths, and also we
believe we can establish and show that the sellers had knowledge that the
drugs they were selling were killing people," said U.S. Attorney Mike
Bradford. "It's unusual to have this large number of deaths and overdoses
attributed to one organization in a community. That's what made us think of
looking at this statute and pursuing it this way."

A federal grand jury in Sherman issued a 36-count indictment that alleges
that 29 suspected drug traffickers targeted Plano as a new market for
heroin. The indictment, announced Wednesday, charges that the 29
intentionally sold four teenagers the drug that led to their deaths. The
four teens, who had lived in Plano or attended Plano schools, were Erin
Baker, 16; Wesley Scott, 19; Rob Hill; 18, and Milan Molina, 20.

The federal statute allows authorities to seek stiffer penalties than state
statutes allow. The 29 were charged under a federal conspiracy law that
allows a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

Twenty-five of the 29 defendants were arraigned Thursday before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Robert Faulkner in Sherman. The remaining four are
scheduled for Monday.

A Sept. 21 trial has been set in U.S. District Judge Paul Brown's court.

Law enforcement officials and legal experts say the law is rarely used
because successful prosecution is so difficult.

"We've never utilized that charge here," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for
the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. "These are upper-echelon drug
dealers, and to link them up with a particular user down the road, I'm sure
you can imagine, is pretty difficult."

Still, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Texas, which includes
Plano, say they're confident that they have the facts to back up their case.

In Washington, White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey said he had not
closely followed the Plano drug case.

"But as a general statement, I'm proud of what they've done," he said.
"That community said, 'We will view as part of an organized crime attempt -
which involves killing our children - the process of selling drugs.' "

Linda Eads, a Southern Methodist University law professor who lives in
Plano, said she'd like to see the federal provision used in other
communities where drugs are pervasive. Plano, she said, has been very vocal
and persistent in its effort to wipe out heroin.

"There was such an outpouring of disgust that they wanted to do something
dramatic," she said.

The law was used last fall in Virginia when federal indictments were
returned against 14 people in connection with three heroin overdoses in the
Roanoke area. Some have pleaded guilty.

The Roanoke area "is relatively small, and the heroin community is very
tight," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis, who is prosecuting the
cases.

There have been more than drug-related 20 deaths in the area in the last
several years, and "we were lucky to be able to trace three of them back to
a conspiracy," Mr. Wolthuis said.

Similar cases have been tried in Florida, California and elsewhere, but
there is little case law, law enforcement officials said. Part of the
trouble is finding a direct link from selling drugs to the resulting deaths.

Prosecutors may be able to make a case that the heroin being sold is so
pure that any seller would know that it was lethal.

Community support is crucial any time officials try to bring down a ring of
criminals, said Paul Villaescusa, a special agent with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration in Dallas.

"Law enforcement can only do so much in combating this problem," he said.
"The true solution lies in an entire community coming together . . .
schools, clergy, the business community, families."

Mr. Villaescusa said that though Plano "has taken a black eye" from the
media over its heroin deaths, thousands have attended anti-drug rallies.

Ms. Eads said mass arrests won't prevent kids from using heroin.

"The sad thing to me ... is it's not going to solve the problem."

Staff writer David LaGesse in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.