Montana Pharmaceutical Pleads Guilty in Methamphetamine Case

HELENA, Mt-Officials from Spectrum International Inc., were the subjects of a four-year investigation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) concerning pharmaceuticals the company was selling that were being used to make methamphetamine. This week, the company's two top officials pleaded guilty to distributing more than a billion pills that potentially could have been used to make the street drug speed.

While the plea agreement does say the defendants admit guilty, their attorney argues the men did not know the drugs were being sold to potential drug dealers, but instead that they should have known the drugs were not being used for their intended purpose.

Brothers Charles G. Eisele, 43, and Richard D. Eisele, 42, face up to four years in prison and the company will pay $2.2 million in fines.

Spectrum sold the tables containing pseudoephedrine as tablets called Ephedrine Release and Ephrin Release. These pills were found in more than 35 meth labs nationally. Most of the company's sales of the drug were to California, where authorities say the largest meth rings exist.

The tablets sold could have potentially produced more than 100,000 pounds of methamphetamine that could have been sold for more than $500 million.

Information from www.sfgate.com