ECSTASY, METH LABS RAIDED, SHUT DOWN

South Florida Production May Be On Rise

SOUTH MIAMI Police and federal agents shut down two unrelated drug
labs in South Florida this week, saying it might be an indication the
potentially explosive operations are now being established in the
region known for trafficking illegal drugs, not producing them.

In both labs, authorities said they found materials to produce the
illegal party drug Ecstasy, or MDMA. One of the labs also had
chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

LocalLinks Since federal officials began tracking them in 2002, there
have been only three Ecstasy lab busts in Florida, none in the tri-
county region. Since Oct. 2002, there have been only nine
methamphetamine lab seizures in South Florida, seven of those in
Broward County.

Asked if the drug labs have finally arrived in South Florida, Drug
Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Jeannette Moran said, "It sure
does look like it."

Police on Thursday were led to a South Miami townhouse located in the
5500 block of Southwest 67th Avenue after receiving an anonymous tip
of drug deals going on in an apartment. An officer spotted Franklin
John Wellman, 27, leaving the townhouse with a strong smell of
marijuana coming out behind him.

After the officer patted him down, Wellman tried to explain that the
transparent liquid found in a tiny bottle inside his pants was water.

It turned out to be gamma hydroxybutyric acid, commonly referred to
by officials as GHB, known in the streets and "rave" parties as
Liquid Ecstasy and a known "date rape" drug, according to Major
Michael Mills, of the South Miami Police Department.

Wellman allegedly admitted he bought the GHB at the townhouse.

Police said a search of the townhouse turned up materials used to
manufacture GHB, Ecstasy and methamphetamines.

The kitchen and an upstairs bedroom were filled with trash, bottled
chemicals, empty vials, beakers and chemistry sets, said South Miami
Police Detective Richard Munoz.

"When I started reading bottles of things that I couldn't even
pronounce, I said, 'guys, let's get out of here,'" he said.

Wearing hazardous material suits, local and federal authorities
dismantled the lab. Police evacuated all residents from the complex.

Wellman was charged with one count of possession of a controlled
substance. Police said they also arrested the home's resident, Kyle
B. Steinfatt, 26, and charged him with multiple felony drug charges.
Steinfatt leases the home from his father, police said.

If convicted, Steinfatt's charges call for a more severe punishment
because the lab is located within 1,000 feet of South Miami Senior
High School and a church day-care center, police said.

At the same time Thursday night, DEA agents were across the county in
Miami Beach tearing down an unrelated drug lab found in a
second-floor apartment. There, officials found about 40 tablets of
Ecstasy and enough material for an Ecstasy factory, said Moran. A
32-year-old man was taken into custody, but officials have not
released his name.