Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2003
Source: Mobile Register (AL)
Copyright: 2003 Mobile Register.
Contact:  http://www.al.com/mobileregister/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/269
Author: JOE DANBORN

TRIAL OPENS FOR MEN ACCUSED OF SUPPLYING METH INGREDIENT

Officials Say University Rexall Sold More Pseudoephedrine Than Some
Large Area Chains

A mom-and-pop drugstore in west Mobile became a one-stop shopping haven for 
people seeking ingredients to make methamphetamine, prosecutors alleged 
Wednesday as the pharmacy's owner and a former employee went on trial in 
federal court.

 From late 2000 until the middle of last year, University Rexall Drugs sold 
so much Sudafed and other medicine containing pseudoephedrine that it 
outpaced giant area chains, including Bruno's Supermarkets and CVS 
Pharmacies, and broke the law in doing so, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger 
Burke told jurors.

"For the meth cooks, that was the Wal-Mart of drugstores. That was the 
place to go," Burke said.

Longtime University Rexall owner Robert Warhurst Jr., 70, watched 
Wednesday's action from the defense table, seated next to his nephew, Gene 
Warhurst Jr., a lawyer who is representing him along with Billy Kimbrough. 
With a distinguishing white mustache to match his bushy brows and his shiny 
white hair slicked back, Robert Warhurst looked every bit the old-time 
neighborhood merchant.

"You'll find he only wears white shirts and blue pants, too," his nephew 
told the jury in his opening remarks.

Robert Warhurst's ruddy-faced co-defendant and former employee, James K. 
Wells, 73, in a dark polo shirt and wide suspenders, appeared jovial 
despite needing a cane to get around. He suffered a stroke more than 10 
years ago and went to Warhurst's store for medicine so often that he 
finally started working there part-time, his lawyer, Skip Brutkiewicz, told 
jurors.

A federal grand jury indicted Robert Warhurst, Wells and three former 
University Rexall clerks in March, accusing the five of conspiring to sell 
bulk quantities of pseudoephedrine, knowing that the buyers would use it to 
make methamphetamine.

The ex-employees, except Wells, all were accepted into a pre-trial 
diversion program, a sort of probation that, if properly completed, will 
obligate prosecutors to drop the charges against them. Defense lawyers told 
jurors the clerks were the ones who handled almost all of the 
pseudoephedrine transactions, unbeknownst to Robert Warhurst or Wells.

By statute, the two face up to 20 years in prison each if convicted, though 
they likely would face less time due to their lack of serious criminal 
records. Robert Warhurst shuttered the pharmacy last year, but stands to 
forfeit the building and the property where it has sat, for years, on Old 
Shell Road near Schillinger Road.

U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. thrice warned the defense lawyers to 
skip their clients' life stories, hindering their attempts to portray the 
defendants as beloved elderly gentlemen unaware of the vagaries of federal 
drug law.

Pseudoephedrine, a common chemical in cold and flu remedies, has become 
such a popular ingredient among meth cooks -- and therefore a frequently 
shoplifted item -- that a growing number of pharmacies keep all products 
containing it behind the counter and will sell only a few packets to a 
single customer. Federal law forbids stores from selling more than 24 grams 
of pseudoephedrine in a single transaction and requires reports on all 
sales involving 9 grams or more.

"The first step would be to go buy the pills," said Byron Jones, one of 
three convicted meth cooks to testify Wednesday morning, answering a 
prosecutor's query about how to produce and consume one of the nation's 
most prevalent and addictive street drugs.

Mix a bit of ether, some rock salt, a pinch of battery acid, a dollop of 
drain cleaner, denatured alcohol, ammonia and about 10,000 milligrams of 
pseudoephedrine for a modest batch, he said, drawing gasps and whispers 
from the mostly older gallery.

He and the other two cooks testified that Wells encouraged them to call 
ahead to place orders for entire cases of pseudoephedrine, which they said 
would be waiting for them at the counter when they arrived, sometimes with 
more cold medicine from the store's shelves.

"I'd go ahead and take everything and leave a tip," Jones said.

The supply from Warhurst's store was so good, Jones claimed, that he 
wondered whether it was a setup.

"This is what meth does to you," he explained. "It makes you paranoid. 
You're always thinking that the law's gonna get you. I was getting such a 
good deal at University, I thought it was a trap."

Fully four dozen spectators filled the pews in Butler's fifth-floor 
courtroom, nearly all of them graying contemporaries of the defendants. 
They waited in turn to greet Robert Warhurst, in particular, during breaks 
in the action, and clucked and murmured approvingly each time a defense 
lawyer cross-examining a government witness scored a point.

The first prosecution witness, a convict named James Harrell, initially had 
trouble picking out Wells at the defense table, and he waffled on whether 
he had dealt with Robert Warhurst at the store. He also admitted he had 
lied to federal agents about his dealings with them.

Still, Harrell claimed, he or someone working for him went to University 
Rexall every day for months, spending at least $200 per visit and buying 
enough medicine to make 20 pounds of meth, worth up to $20,000 per pound.

Testimony is expected to continue throughout today at the courthouse on St. 
Joseph Street, with jurors expected to start deliberations Friday.
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