ENID RETAILERS FACING TRIAL IN SALE OF METH INGREDIENT

Three convenience store operators were ordered Friday to stand trial on
charges of illegally selling an over-the-counter nasal decongestant used in
manufacturing methamphetamine. Brothers Young Tag Cho and Joon Tag Cho face
two counts of unlawfully selling precursor substances, while Claude Allen
McFalls is charged with a single count. Each count is punishable by up to
10 years in prison.

The three men were arrested in August when local, state and federal
authorities concluded a two-year investigation into the illegal sale of
pseudoephedrine, a vital component in manufacturing methamphetamine.

It is against the law to sell pseudoephedrine with the knowledge the buyer
will use it to illegally manufacture methamphetamine.

Nine Garfield County residents, including two who now face charges in
federal court, were arrested as the investigation concluded.

McFalls, Young Tag Cho and Joon Tag Cho allegedly sold multiple bottles of
pseudoephedrine tablets to undercover law enforcement officers.

Young Tag Cho owns Mac's Mart No. 2 at 431 E. Broadway, while Joon Tag Cho
and McFalls have been identified as the owners of Mac's Mart No. 1 at 221
E. Garriott. Each store also has an attached smoke shop.

An Oklahoma City police detective testified Friday he and his partner
bought 20 bottles of pseudoephedrine from Young Tag Cho, 31, in September
2000. He limited them to five bottles each but sold them pills from the
convenience store and the smoke shop.

The detective, who was part of a drug task force assigned to assist Enid
police, said he told Cho he needed the pseudoephedrine to cook methamphetamine.

He said he didn't have any trouble talking with Cho, a Korean national
living in the United States.

"We were communicating," the detective said. "It wasn't just a one-sided
conversation."

An Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics agent testified he and an Enid police
detective purchased eight bottles of pseudoephedrine from Cho in July.

"I repeatedly told him that I was in the middle of cooking a batch of
methamphetamine," the agent said.

Both officers were able to correctly identify Cho, who was sitting in the
gallery with seven other Korean men. The OBN agent looked directly at Cho
as he took the witness stand, despite a defense attorney's attempt to
confuse him.

The Oklahoma City detective also identified Joon Tag Cho, 35, without any
hesitation during Cho's preliminary hearing.

The detective testified Cho agreed to sell him pseudoephedrine on Sept. 28,
2000, after he told him he had purchased pills from his brother on an
earlier occasion.

The detective and his partner purchased a total of 100 bottles of pills
that day, once again going back and forth between the convenience store and
adjacent smoke shop. The pair returned in February 2001 and bought another
40 bottles of pills.

The detective said Cho refused to sell him a full case of pseudoephedrine
because his supply is limited by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Enid police Capt. Brian O'Rourke testified in the preliminary hearings for
both men. He said he took a DEA notice about the sale of pseudoephedrine to
each of the stores.

In McFalls' case, Sgt. Kevin Morris testified he bought 10 bottles of
pseudoephedrine from the 69-year-old man in August.

Morris said he had to ask for the pills three times before McFalls
understood what he was talking about, leaving him to believe the other man
had a hearing problem.

He said McFalls refused to sell him more than five bottles of pills at a
time, referring to another retailer who had been fined $25,000 for
illegally selling pseudoephedrine.

Defense attorney Greg Camp questioned if the Korean store owners understood
the drug terminology the undercover agents used to describe their plans for
the pseudoephedrine pills. He said McFalls hadn't heard the police officer
say he was planning to use the pills to manufacture methamphetamine.

Camp also criticized regulations governing the sale of pseudoephedrine as
"vague," but Special District Judge J. Bruce Harvey still ruled there was
probable cause to support the charges against the three men.

They will be arraigned on the felony counts next month.

The men remain free on $10,000 bond each.