SELLING TROUBLE

5 face charges in the barter of vital ingredient of meth. Five Garfield
County residents are free on $10,000 bond after being charged Friday with
illegally selling an over-the-counter nasal decongestant that is a vital
ingredient in clandestine methamphetamine labs.

Two others face similar charges in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City.
They were released Friday after posting $50,000 bond.

The suspects were charged as a result of a two-year investigation by
federal, state and local authorities into the unlawful sale of pseudoephedrine.

It is against the law to sell pseudoephe-drine with the knowledge the buyer
will use it to illegally manufacture meth-amphetamine.

Officers from Enid Police Department, District 26 Multi-County Narcotics
Task Force, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Drug Enforcement
Administration teamed up in the investigation, which utilized undercover
agents to purchase pseudoephedrine at a number of local stores.

The undercover officers always let the suspects know they were buying
pseudoephedrine to be using in manufacturing methamphetamine, according to
court documents.

Authorities searched six Enid businesses and one in Lahoma for more pills
and purchasing records Thursday afternoon. Six of the seven suspects were
arrested at that time.

Chang Bae Kim, Joon Tag Cho, Claude Allen McFalls, Young Tag Cho and Myong
Davis are facing charges in Garfield County District Court, while Prakesh
Patel and Daniel Bruce Huston are being prosecuted by federal authorities.

On Thursday, Narcotics Task Force Deputy Kim Alexander said Patel was the
main target of the investigation.

He owns or has a stake in several of the stores authorities searched
Thursday afternoon, Alexander said. The Internal Revenue Service is helping
authorities connect him to the other businesses.

Alexander said an undercover agent bought two cases of pseudoephedrine
pills from Patel for $4,000 Thursday, with promise to buy more. The agent
left an additional $2,000 as a down payment.

*
Huston works at a convenience store owned by Patel on South Van Buren,
authorities said. He allegedly sold pseudoephedrine pills to undercover
officers on several occasions.

The five suspects facing state counts are charged with unlawful sale of
precursor substances. Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison
and a $25,000 fine.

*
Kim, 38, allegedly sold pseudoephedrine to undercover officers on three
occasions - twice at a now-closed convenience store on North Van Buren in
2000 and Aug. 2 at a store in Lahoma, according to court documents. The
transactions involved 59 bottles of 60-milligram pills, which sold for
nearly $500.

An undercover OBN agent asked Kim if he would be interested in trading
methamphetamine for pills. Kim declined, telling the officer, "I only sell
them," according to the affidavit.

*
Joon Tag Cho, 34, is charged with two counts of illegally selling
pseudoephedrine.

Two undercover task force officers approached Cho at the smoke shop on East
Garriott in September 2000. Cho limited purchases to five bottles at a time
per person, but the officers went back and forth between the convenience
store and smoke shop until they had accumulated 60 bottles, the affidavit
states.

Officers purchased another 40 bottles the same way Feb. 7, 2001, according
to the affidavit.

*
McFalls, 68, also faces two counts of selling pseudoephedrine to undercover
agents who said they intended to use it to manufacture methamphetamine.

On Aug. 20, 2002, an undercover Enid police detective asked about buying
pseudoephedrine after noticing none on display in Mac's Mart, his affidavit
states. McFalls took five bottles from behind the counter and only let the
detective buy that amount, according to the affidavit, although McFalls
sold an additional five bottles to the detective when he returned to the
store a few minutes later.

McFalls told the detective he was afraid of being fined by authorities for
selling too much pseudoephedrine, the affidavit states. He said he limits
his pill orders so his vender won't alert authorities.

*
Young Tag Cho, 30, surrendered to authorities Friday on two counts of
unlawfully selling drug precursors.

He allegedly sold 20 bottles of pseudoephedrine to two undercover officers
Sept. 28, 2000, forcing them to move between Mac's Mart No. 2 and the
Downtown Smoke Shop to complete the $260 purchase, the affidavit state. He
only sold them 10 bottles at each store.

One of the officers spoke to Cho about stocking a vitamin blend that could
be used to cut his methamphetamine after he cooked it, according to the
affidavit.

Last month, Cho allegedly sold eight bottles of the precursor substance to
an Enid police detective and OBN agent, the affidavit states.

He refused to sell them more than four bottles each, saying he had other
customers and needed to keep some pills in stock for them, according to the
affidavit.

*
Bison resident Davis, 33, allegedly sold pseudoephed-rine pills to two
undercover officers in April 2000. She is a clerk at Mac's Mart No. 1.