:FEDS TEAM IN SAMPSON METH FIGHT

Eight Dealers Plead Guilty

Eight Sampson County residents pleaded guilty to federal drug charges
this year as Sheriff Jimmy Thornton saw the number of methamphetamine
labs uncovered by his narcotics team double from 2007, officials said
Monday.

Authorities hope the harsh penalties levied against the dealers will
serve as a deterrent to other people involved in the drug trade.

U.S. Attorney George Holding and Special Agent Jerry Weaver, head of
the Fayetteville office of the SBI, joined Sheriff Thornton in Clinton
Monday to discuss operation "Juiced Out," which has lead to the
arrests and convictions of eight dealers so far.

"The past several years, Sampson County has just been in the midst of
a meth epidemic," Mr. Holding said.

Craig Hobbs, 43, Adam Strickland, 23, Sabrina Royal, 23, Corey Harmon,
20, Samuel Faircloth, 42, William Paschall, 32, Steven McClenny, 51,
and Ramon Singleton, 29, have been convicted of conspiracy to
distribute and possess methamphetamine. In addition, Mr. Hobbs, Mr.
Strickland, Ms. Royal, Mr. Harmon and Mr. Paschall face additional
time for keeping firearms to aid their drug trafficking operations.
Sentencing for the group has been delayed until February or March, but
at least five of the convicts could be dealt life sentences. The
minimum penalty available is 10 years.

The network of meth producers in Sampson County worked together,
pooling their individual resources and trading access to key
ingredients - lithium strips from batteries, liquid fertilizer,
pseudoephedrine tablets and anhydrous ammonia - in exchange for cuts
of the end product: meth. The group prepared and sold the dangerous
drugs in their homes.

"They were using what's commonly called the Nazi method of cooking
meth, which was pioneered under Hitler in World War II," Mr. Holding
said.

The Nazi method uses anhydrous ammonia in the meth-making
process.

Prosecutors said Mr. Hobbs was the lynch pin of the operation, posing
as an air-conditioner repairman in order to legally purchase bulk
quantities of anhydrous ammonia. Even though Mr. Hobbs had a license
to buy the chemical, authorities were suspicious of the unusually
large amounts he was ordering.

"It was clear he wasn't in the business of repairing air
conditioners," Mr. Holding said.

Heavy Handed Justice

In federal prisons, convicts have no opportunity for parole or any
other type of early release.

"That is the hammer that federal prosecutors are able to bring to the
table," Mr. Holding said. "And we were glad to bring it to Sampson
County, to communities that were just being decimated by meth."

In 2006, Mr. Holding met with Sheriff Thornton, Harnett County Sheriff
Larry Rollins and Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell to discuss
ways their agencies could work together to combat drugs in the region.
Sheriff Thornton remembered the offer for help in February of this
year when his drug team uncovered their 12th meth lab in less than two
months. Only 12 labs had been found in all of 2007.

"It became apparent to me that it was really getting out of hand, the
meth problem in this county," Sheriff Thornton said.

The sheriff's office had already begun investigating the suspects
implicated in "Juiced Out" when the SBI and federal prosecutors got
involved in February.

When officials decided to make a federal case out of the local meth
problem, their goal was to send a clear message to everyone involved
in the drug trade that meth producers would be dealt with harshly.

"The agents determined that these were the individuals who were making
the most meth and causing the most damage," Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jennifer Wells said.

"We thought if we could clean up this organization and send them to
prison for a very long time, that that would have the biggest impact
on the community," Mr. Holding said. "This has rippled throughout the
criminal undercurrents in Sampson County."

More To Come

"Once they're hooked on this drug, there's no looking back," Sheriff
Thornton said. "I think the recovery rate for a meth addict is about 6
or 7 percent."

"If you look at the people who are using meth, you can see it on their
faces. It just rots their teeth away. It rots the mind away," Mr.
Holding said.

The exceptionally dangerous nature of methamphetamine makes it a
serious hazard to society, and investigators plan to continue working
to curb its use.

This year, sheriff's deputies uncovered 24 meth labs in Sampson
County. In North Carolina, only Harnett County had more.

Sheriff Thornton credits the residents of the county for uprooting the
criminal drug users, saying every lab uncovered was the direct result
of citizens tipping his office off to suspicious behavior in their
neighborhoods.

Mr. Holding said while meth is present across the state, it was clear
Sampson County was experiencing a spike in use. He said it was not
unusual, as drug producers surge into regions across the country all
the time looking for places to set up shop.

The sheriff said the arrest of this key network has already had a
significant impact on meth production in the area. He said drug
dealers are still rooted out, but they typically have less meth on
them than they would have a year ago.

Mr. Holding said the U.S. Attorney's office has ramped up its
prosecution rate significantly during the past year, and more arrests,
and more meth cases, can be expected in federal courts in North
Carolina in the future.

"You can erect laws to curtail the over-the-counter pseudoephedrine.
You can do whatever you want to do, but there's always ways to get
around it," Mr. Holding said. "So law enforcement has to stay vigilant."