Pubdate: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 Source: Enid News & Eagle (OK) Copyright: Enid News & Eagle 2002 Contact: http://www.enidnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2012 Author: Jay F. Marks Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) ATTORNEY QUESTIONS PRECURSOR CHARGES Suspects were targeted by police, according to lawyer. The attorney for an Enid man charged last week with illegally selling drug precursors suggests authorities may have been picking on immigrants during the two-year investigation that culminated in seven arrests. Defense attorney Greg Camp said it appears to him that investigators took advantage of his client's muddled command of English when they bought pseudoephedrine tablets from him on two occasions. Camp represents Young Tag Cho, 30, who was charged Friday with two counts of unlawfully selling drug precursors. Cho is one of five people who work at Garfield County convenience stores arrested last week on state charges at the conclusion of a two-year investigation by local, state and federal authorities. Two others are facing federal charges. Five of those seven people are not native Americans. None of them has any criminal history, Camp said. Camp said it appears authorities targeted minority owned stores in the probe. Enid police and the local District 26 Multi-County Narcotics Task Force detective denied that assertion. "No one was targeted because of their race," task force Deputy Kim Alexander said. Enid Police Sgt. Kevin Morris said undercover officers tried to purchase pseudoephedrine tablets from other stores, but clerks there refused to sell the precursor after the undercover officers discussed using it to manufacture methamphetamine. In the cases that resulted in arrests, he said store employees completed the sales even after officers talked about using the pseudoephedrine to cook methamphetamine. "Those deals were all pretty straight up," Morris said. In Cho's case, he allegedly sold 20 bottles of pseudoephedrine to two undercover officers Sept. 28, 2000, as they moved between Mac's Mart No. 2 and Downtown Smoke Shop to complete the $260 purchase, the affidavit states. 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. Camp said his reading of the affidavits in Cho's case leads him to believe the undercover officers decided to buy pseudoephedrine in each of his client's stores, rather than being directed to move between them by Cho. Camp also questioned whether Cho understood the officers claims they intended to manufacture methamphetamine with the pseudoephedrine tablets. He said Cho and the other immigrants who have been arrested likely didn't hear or understand the officers' comments. Assistant District Attorney Mike Fields wouldn't comment on the specifics of Camp's view of the case against Cho. "I think that the evidence clearly supports the state's charges," he said. Camp said he still believes it should not fall on store owners or employees to restrict sale of pseudoephedrine. "This is a legal product that's (sold) over the counter," he said. "I think you ought to place personal responsibility where it goes." Camp also said authorities may try to portray the sale of pseudoephedrine by the people who were arrested last week as some sort of crime ring, but he stressed that is not the case. "They're businesspeople," he said. "They're trying to work hard and raise families." Camp said Cho earned a college degree in South Korea before moving to the United States about six years ago. He is married with two infant children and serves as a Sunday school teacher at his church. - --- MAP posted-by: Tom