WAMEGO (KANSAS) LSD LABORATORY

On November 25, 2003, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas announced that two men had been sentenced to prison after being convicted for conspiring to operate the largest complete LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) laboratory ever seized by the DEA. One man was sentenced to life and the other was sentenced to 30 years, both without the possibility of parole. In March 2003, a federal jury found the two California residents guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute LSD and possession with the intent to distribute LSD. During the 11-week trial, prosecutors entered evidence showing that in October 2000 law enforcement authorities received information regarding an LSD laboratory located in a decommissioned missile silo in Wamego, Kansas. DEA agents obtained and executed a search warrant for the silo and discovered a nonoperational LSD laboratory. The agents also discovered 41.3 kilograms of LSD, 23.6 kilograms of iso-LSD (a by-product of LSD production), 97.5 kilograms of lysergic acid (a chemical used in LSD production), and 19 kilograms of ergocristine (an LSD precursor).

Authorities guarded the evidence found at the silo and maintained surveillance on the site until early November 2000 when the defendants returned to move the laboratory to another location. The Kansas Highway Patrol stopped the men as they left the site; one defendant drove a rental truck containing the laboratory components, and the other drove an automobile. The defendant in the rental truck was arrested, and the other defendant fled on foot. He was apprehended and arrested the following day at a farm in Wamego. During a subsequent investigation, agents learned that although chemicals needed to produce LSD had been found in the missile silo, the seized LSD had actually been produced at another site.

NDIC Comment: The defendants in this case were responsible for the production of a significant amount of LSD that was widely distributed over several years. Investigators believe that the defendants previously were involved with two other complete LSD laboratories that DEA seized in 1996 (Oregon) and 1998 (California). Investigators also believe that between 1997 and 2000 the defendants used the equipment seized in October 2000 to operate LSD laboratories in Aspen (CO), Santa Fe (NM), and Carneiro (KS) before moving it to the missile silo in Wamego during July 2000. While authorities believe that no LSD was produced at the Wamego location, they estimate that the defendants used the laboratory equipment to produce approximately 10 million dosage units (2.2 pounds) of LSD every 5 weeks while at the Santa Fe location and comparable amounts while at the Carneiro location. The men sold the LSD to distributors in San Francisco and California. Additionally, investigators believe that some of the LSD was shipped overseas to the Netherlands via couriers on commercial airlines.

[From the NDIC Narcotics Digest Weekly 2003;2(52):3 Unclassified, Reprinted with Permission.] via MICROGRAM BULLETIN, VOL. XXXVII, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2004 Page 33