Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 Source: Roanoke Times (VA) Copyright: 2004 Roanoke Times Contact: http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368 Author: Jen McCaffery Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) RAID SHATTERS ALCHEMISTS' LAB - BUT FINDS NO METH "How do I get my privacy and dignity back?" asked Ariel Alonso, one of two partners in an alchemy venture. Ariel Alonso was thrilled to meet someone over the Internet who shared Alonso's interest in alchemy. The Franklin County resident invited Jonathan Conrad, who was living in Missouri and ringing a bell for the Salvation Army, to come live in Alonso's small Henry home almost three years ago. They planned to establish a lab together and sell essential oils and elixirs on the Internet. Alonso, 78, thought Conrad's grasp of what Alonso refers to as the ancient science of alchemy - the power to change elements into some higher form - was "brilliant." Alonso racked up credit card charges of between $20,000 and $25,000 to finance the venture and, until recently, was able to keep up with the payments from money they received from orders, Alonso said. Their dream was obliterated Oct. 13, when federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided Alonso's home, arrested the duo on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing equipment to do so, searched the premises and destroyed their lab. Since then, federal prosecutors have dropped charges against the duo after tests from their own lab showed no evidence of the manufacture of methamphetamine or any other illegal drug. Now, Alonso and Conrad are hoping to be reimbursed for the lab, which was worth $15,000, according to a report from the DEA. Alonso estimated the value at about $30,000. But Conrad, 52, estimated that the value, including the intellectual property, is more like $250,000. Reimbursement is subject to the discretion of the DEA, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott said. The likelihood of Alonso and Conrad seeing any reimbursement likely depends on whether the DEA determines that the lab contained contraband material, said Ed Childress, a spokesman for the DEA. Childress said the DEA has reimbursed people in the past when mistakes were made, but he said those recoveries tended to be awarded in the few cases where the evidence was strong that the DEA had made a mistake - for example, if agents raided the wrong house. Asked how much the DEA had reimbursed, Childress said that information would only be available through a Freedom of Information Act request. Meanwhile, Alonso and Conrad said their encounter with federal agents disturbed them beyond the loss of the lab. "How do I get my privacy and dignity back?" Alonso asked. After their October arrest, Alonso and Conrad were jailed for about 18 days. When Alonso returned home after being released on bond, shattered glass on the floor was all that remained of much of their lab. And Alonso's cat, Rousseau, had disappeared. Alonso suspected the cat had jumped through a window that was likely left open during the raid. After Conrad and Alonso got arrested, no one was around to feed the cat. The window was too high for Rousseau to jump back inside the house, Alonso said. And because Rousseau had been declawed, Alonso fears the cat had few defenses in the outside world. Conrad and Alonso were at first reluctant to talk about alchemy because of what Conrad said were misconceptions about it. Conrad was more interested in the botanical side of alchemy. For example, reacting potassium chloride with white grape juice and sea salt "creates the fluid of life, what the stuff inside of cells is made of," Conrad said. It can be used to cleanse people internally and build new tissue, Conrad believes. "There's no magic," Conrad said. "There's no nothing. This stuff has just worked, and it has always worked." Alonso, meanwhile, was more fascinated by what Alonso referred to as the "metallurgical" side of alchemy: turning base metals into higher metal, including gold. "My side of it never got off the ground," Alonso conceded. Conrad brought expensive glassware and beakers to the venture. He and Alonso came up with elixirs to help prevent degenerative diseases and cleanse the blood, Conrad said. They marketed their products on the Internet and had orders coming in from as far away as Hong Kong, Conrad said. What they are doing is absolutely legal, Conrad said. "There was nothing clandestine about this thing," said Conrad. "People in the post office knew what we were doing." Alonso wasn't sure exactly how much money came in from orders for elixirs that ranged from $20 to $40. But Alonso was able to pay off between $5,000 and $10,000 on the credit card bills. But Conrad was sleeping on a mattress in the living room, and his proximity started to drive Alonso crazy. Alonso felt "emotionally and financially abused." "Ariel wanted out, and I couldn't get out fast enough," Conrad said. Things reached a breaking point Oct. 13, when Alonso called Virginia Adult Protective Services. Franklin County deputies responded to the call, and Conrad and Alonso let them inside the house. The deputies saw the lab, and, according to an affidavit filed in federal court, suspected the laboratory was being used to manufacture methamphetamine. The local deputies left, then returned later that day with federal agents from the DEA, according to the affidavit and Conrad and Alonso. The authorities saw glassware, heating apparatus, and chemicals, according to the affidavit. Meanwhile, Alonso and Conrad said they repeatedly tried to explain to the agents what they were making in the laboratory. "There wasn't anything in this house from which you could make methamphetamine," Conrad said. "Not one thing." Federal agents then performed a preliminary field test on some of the substances in the beakers. The sample tested positive for chemicals that could be used to make methamphetamine, according to the affidavit. They also saw several three-neck, round-bottomed glass flasks, which federal agents said are typically used to manufacture methamphetamine. Based on the test results and the beakers, federal agents arrested Alonso and Conrad and took them to the Roanoke City Jail. Because of assorted issues with posting bond, they remained in custody for about 18 days. While Conrad chafed at the confinement, Alonso didn't mind the time in jail. Alonso was housed on the medical ward at the jail. There, Alonso was "surrounded by lots of pretty nurses who took care of me. They loved me." Alonso also remarked on the expansive selection of the jail's library. Alonso even considered pleading guilty to the federal charges, despite Alonso's innocence. "I would have loved being in a nice, warm, cozy federal prison," Alonso said. On Dec. 15, Mott, the federal prosecutor, filed a motion in federal court to dismiss charges against Alonso and Conrad. Mott said in the motion that the substance federal agents field-tested the day they arrested Alonso and Conrad tested positive, "though equivocally," for the presence of methamphetamine. Subsequent testing showed no presence of methamphetamine or any other drug, according to the motion. And federal agents found no ephedrine, a chemical that can be used to make methamphetamine, after they searched Alonso's home, according to the motion. These days, Conrad lives with a friend in North Carolina and works as a waiter. Alonso still resides in the Henry home and gets by on $552 a month from Social Security and food stamps. The women from the post office bring the mail to the door and check in on Alonso. But Alonso's furnace is broken, and Alonso is using the stove for heat. Alonso still has about $15,000 in credit card debt. And the destruction of the lab weighs heavily on Alonso. "It's pretty much brought my life to an end," Alonso said. "I'm pretty much ready to die. There's nothing left for me to go on and do." Jonathan Conrad (left) and Ariel Alonso formed a partnership to make herbal elixirs in Alonso's Franklin county home. The two were arrested and jailed because law enforcement officials suspected them of producing methamphetamine. Charges were later dismissed. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh