FEDS EXPECTED TO TAKE CASE AGAINST WESTPORT DRUG LAB

WESTPORT -- A month after investigators cracked a date-rape drug
manufacturing operation, federal prosecutors still are weighing
exactly when they will take over the case.

Local authorities say they expect the U.S. attorney's office will wind
up with the case in as soon as a month.

"They move somewhat differently than a local district attorney,"
Westport Police Chief Michael Healy said. "I wouldn't be surprised if
within 30 days they have it."

Assistant District Attorney Ronald Moynahan said there will be no
objection from his office if the federal government takes over the
case. "Sometimes these cases are better off going federally. We very
seldom get into turf battles."

Mr. Moynahan said the involvement of different jurisdictions --
coupled with allegations that the drugs were sold across state lines
- -- are factors in the U.S. attorney's interest in taking the case.

He said the Bristol County District Attorney's Office has been talking
with the U.S. Attorney's Office about the case since the raid, and
expects action to be taken on the federal level in about a month.

Teams of Westport, state and Rhode Island police, and Drug Enforcement
Administration agents raided a Mount Pleasant Street home last month where
an illegal drug lab investigators called one of the largest operated.

Police seized drums of chemicals, including acetone, dyclorine,
methanol and formaldehyde in the raid.

The suspect at the center of the investigation -- Christopher Serra,
who lists addresses of Fairhaven and the Mount Pleasant Street house
- -- purchased $2,277 worth of laboratory equipment, such as heating
devices, glass flasks and filtering screens, from Kontes -- Solutions
through Science and Technology, a New Jersey laboratory equipment
company, according to court papers in support of a search warrant

Investigators also learned through an informant that Mr. Serra -- who
has a drug trafficking record -- "had bragged about being able to make
pills in his laboratory," according to the court papers.

Police staking out the house had watched as at least two people with
criminal records made brief stops at the house, then left -- activity
an informant told authorities occurred often.

On Jan. 15, police watched as a car registered to "a person who has an
extensive criminal history" pulled up to the house, stayed for 10
minutes, then left. On Jan. 21, four men pulled into the driveway,
then left about three minutes later. The vehicle, according to the
court papers, was registered to a person with an extensive criminal
history, including heroin dealing.

When teams of detectives finally raided the house last month, they
found drums filled with chemicals in the house and garage -- as well
as notebooks filled with information fueling the ongoing
investigation.

Police seized a shoe box containing suspected steroids, a notebook
filled with recipes and pieces of foil; a notebook with a flier about
Ecstasy, the date-rape drug; a purple notebook with a black phone
book; a notebook with a chemical catalog; three black notebooks; a
.380-caliber gun with the serial numbers removed; $2,903 in cash;
photographs; a passport; and a plastic bag with white and blue pills.

Police say they walked into the house as two of the suspects were
working in the clandestine lab.