Pubdate: Fri, 16 Mar 2001
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact:  P.O. Box 661, Milwaukee, WI 53201
Fax: 414-224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi
Author: Scott Williams and Lisa Sink

STUDENTS DID NOT HAVE HEROIN

State Lab Test Shows Powder Found In Elm Grove Was Not A Narcotic

Alarm turned to relief for Elm Grove officials Friday after State 
Crime Laboratory test results showed that two students arrested near 
their school last week were not carrying heroin as originally thought.

But police said they still might seek to prosecute the 14-year-old 
boys under laws prohibiting possession of narcotic "look-alikes."

When the students were arrested March 7 near Pilgrim Park Middle 
School, police said preliminary tests that showed the boys were 
carrying about 10 grams of suspected heroin, which had a street value 
of $1,500 or more.

At the time, Elmbrook School Superintendent Matt Gibson called the 
situation "absolutely alarming," because there had never been 
evidence of heroin before in the Brookfield-based school district.

But tests conducted at a laboratory in Milwaukee have since found 
that not only was the white powdery substance not heroin, it was not 
any illicit drug at all.

A report from the crime lab does not indicate what the substance was.

Elm Grove Police Chief Jeff Haig said he suspects it was some mixture 
involving flour, baking soda or other household product intended to 
mimic street narcotics.

Initial tests sometimes wrong

Although preliminary field tests had twice indicated the presence of 
heroin, Haig said, it is not unusual for such results to be disproved 
in the lab.

"I've seen errors before," he said. "I wouldn't say it's common, but 
it's not real rare."

Police and school officials expressed relief that heroin has not been 
found in Elm Grove, an upscale Waukesha County community of about 
6,200.

Gibson sent a letter to Pilgrim Park parents Friday to inform them 
that lab results had ruled out heroin.

"Even though this development is good news," he wrote, "we continue 
to be concerned that the substance was touted as a controlled 
substance by the boys."

Gibson could not be reached for comment Friday.

Authorities said the two eighth-graders, arrested after fleeing 
police on campus, had an unloaded .22-caliber handgun, about 100 
rounds of ammunition, a switchblade knife and a bottle of whiskey.

Both boys have been accused in juvenile delinquency petitions with 
bringing a gun and ammunition to school.

Although both attend the Elm Grove school, one lives in Brookfield 
and the other lives in Milwaukee, attending Pilgrim Park through the 
Chapter 220 school desegregation program.

Both have been suspended and face expulsion hearings.

The powder was in an unlabeled brown prescription bottle found in the 
Milwaukee boy's pocket.

Lab doesn't label fakes

Michael Camp, director of the crime lab, said that if tests come back 
negative for controlled substances, analysts usually do not test to 
determine what the substance is - unless prosecutors request it.

"We don't go any further," he said, adding: "We get a lot of negatives."

Attorneys representing the two teenagers could not be reached for 
comment Friday.

Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Timothy Westphal, who is 
prosecuting the Brookfield boy, did not pursue any drug-related 
offenses, so that case will not change.

Officials in Milwaukee County said a drug count against the Milwaukee 
youth would be dismissed.

"I'm very glad it wasn't heroin," said Steven Licata, the Milwaukee 
County assistant district attorney prosecuting the case. "It was 
disturbing. I don't know what the kids thought it was."

Haig said investigators might seek charges against the two boys for 
possession of narcotic look-alikes if it turns out that the boys 
claimed it was a controlled substance in discussions with other 
students.

The police chief said neither boy denied it was heroin while being 
questioned by police.

"There simply was an absence of confirmation or contradiction," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Kirk Bauer