Indictment accuses 3 lab owners of selling chemicals for illegal drug

By Dennis Akizuki
Mercury News Staff Writer

In the first case of its kind, three owners of an Oakland company have been
indicted on charges that they sold chemicals to illegal ``super labs'' in
the Central Valley, where the materials were used to cook massive
quantities of methamphetamine.

Capping a 12month investigation, agents swooped down on Custom Lab Supply
Inc. and arrested Terry Crandall Mincey of San Francisco, 50; Calvin
``Vladamir Horavatic'' Roberts of Berkeley, 34; and Betty Lou Lewis of
Alameda, 49.

Last year the company rang up $7.4 million in sales, more than 95 percent
from sales of six items commonly used to produce ``crank,'' according the
U.S. Attorney's Office.

A federal grand jury handed up a 20count indictment that alleges the
company knowingly supplied chemicals to illegal methamphetamine labs in
Stanislaus and Fresno counties as well as other places in rural California.

``This case represents a new strategy in the war against methamphetamine,''
said U.S. Attorney Paul Seave. ``We have prosecuted the people who actually
manufacture methamphetamine and the people who have distributed
methamphetamine. We are now prosecuting the chemical houses that are
selling the chemicals that produce the methamphetamine.''

Seave said the Central Valley is in danger of becoming to methamphetamine
what Miami was to cocaine. Methamphetamine, a stimulant, is a cheap
alternative to cocaine and is relatively easy to manufacture, with
materials legally available at drug stores and chemicalsupply houses.

A telephone call Tuesday afternoon to Custom Lab Supply was answered by a
federal drug agent.

``They're all in custody,'' the agent said.

Mincey, Roberts and Lewis are in an Oakland jail and will make an initial
appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Wayne Brazil. If convicted, the
three could face life imprisonment and up to $40 million in fines, plus up
$80 million fine for the company.

Custom Lab Supply equipment and chemicals have been found in secret ``super
labs'' throughout California, according to federal authorities. The buyers
allegedly paid cash.

Nearly all of the company's sales were in iodine, red phosphorous, hydrogen
chloride gas, freon, sodium hydroxide and 22liter flasks and heating
mantles commonly used to cook methamphetamine.

The only other chemical needed to make methamphetamine is pseudoephedrine,
which is found in overthecounter cold medication.

In 1996, Custom Lab Supply sold 81,600 pounds of iodine, a common chemical.
Federal officials say the iodine could have been used to manufacture up to
51,000 pounds of methamphetamine that could have carried a wholesale value
of up to $306 million.

Until recently, illegal methamphetamine labs were ``mom and pop''
operations, federal prosecutors said, relatively small and operating out of
garages. But they are now overshadowed by ``super labs'' that cook the
illegal drug in large quantities.