Missouri mother, son accused in 'date rape' drug crackdown

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis-area mother and son have been charged as part of a two-nation crackdown on suspected Internet peddlers of the potentially deadly "date-rape" drug GHB or its chemical relative, the U.S. government said Thursday.

Federal grand jurors in St. Louis last week accused Cassandra Harvey, 53, and her 23-year-old son Joshua of one count apiece of conspiring to distribute 1,4-butanediol -- a GHB cousin that turns to GHB in the body -- and of possessing the chemical with plans to deal it.

The Harveys were among 115 suspects arrested in 84 cities in the United States and Canada under the government's sweeping Operation Web Slinger, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced.

Cassandra Harvey, of Festus, and Joshua Harvey, of Herculaneum, were arrested Wednesday on the indictments returned Sept. 12. They were jailed without bond, pending a detention hearing Monday.

Drug deaths documented

The DEA has documented 72 deaths from GHB and its derivatives, which often are sold over the Internet and mailed to teenagers and young adults by dealers who run their own Web sites.

GHB, a popular designer drug abused as a muscle growth hormone and hallucinogen, is known as a date-rape drug for its ability to incapacitate people, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assault.

For years, police and the government have warned women about predators who could spike their drinks with the drug.

GHB, a mixture of common industrial chemicals that Congress outlawed in 2000, and derivatives GBL and 1,4-butanediol act as central nervous system depressants and cause drowsiness, dizziness, nausea and loss of inhibition.

Butanediol, an industrial solvent also included in supplements sold under names such as Thunder Nectar, InnerG and Zen, is used to make polyurethane, Spandex, moisturizers and legal drugs.

The Harveys, the government alleges, ran Miracle Cleaning Products Inc., an online company that peddled large amounts of butanediol to buyers in 41 states and eight countries, earning "well in excess" of $325,000.

Investigators of the Harveys have seized more than 2,000 gallons of butanediol and $300,000 cash, prosecutors said.

The Web site remained operational Thursday, touting its "Miracle Organic Solvent" -- available in quantities ranging from a $45 pint to a $675 five-gallon tub -- as a "so versatile" spot remover, paint stripper and cleaner of ink-jet printers, brick work and tiling.

The Web site said the company sells only to businesses for industrial purpose. While the site insisted "THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED FOR INGESTION!!," the government alleges the Harveys distributed the chemical for human consumption.

"ANYONE FALSIFYING INFORMATION TO PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT FOR ILLEGAL USE IS OPENING THEMSELVES TO PROSECUTION!!!!" the Web site warned, listing a mailing address as a Festus post office box.

An interview request e-mailed Thursday to the Web site yielded no reply. Cassandra Harvey's home telephone number was unlisted, and calls to her son's home went unanswered.

Trumpeting the charges against the Harveys as his district's first involving Internet drug distribution, Gruender said that "while we cannot bring back lives already lost due to this drug, hopefully these prosecutions will send a message of how dangerous these drugs can be."

All told, the government said, Operation Web Slinger drug seizures could have yielded more than 25 million doses of GHB and its derivatives.