Court documentsfiled in the case reveallarge sums of moneythat, prosecutors say,were gained from sell-ing dangerous chemi-cals marketed as in-cense but meant to beconsumed as a drug.

In all, 21 local shopowners,managersandemployees were in-dicted by a federalgrand jury early thismonth in the first-of-its-kind roundup of those sus-pected of selling syntheticmar-ijuana inSpringfield,Joplinandelsewhere.

In less than three years, onefamily-owned business is al-leged to have made nearly $7million. The Franklins, authori-ties say, created a business thatmailed synthetic drugs to headshops throughout southwestMissouri.

Douglas K. Franklin and hisson Brandon D. Franklin, ofSpringfield, stuffed bank ac-counts across the country, ac-cording to court documentsfiled against them.

Almost $700,000 was trans-ferred to an account for Hell-bender Meadery, a honey winestore Caitlyn E. Franklin wasexpectedtoopenthisyearinRo-gersville.

Federal authorities are alsoseeking more than $1 millionfrom the Reynolds brothers,

21PEOPLEINDICTED

MILLIONSIN CASH AND PROPERTY SEIZED

In six federal indictments,the following people havebeen chargedwith partici-pating in a conspiracy todistribute a controlled sub-stance. Pictured from top:

» Travis Basford,28, of Springfield

»MatthewP. Browning,36, of Springfield

» JeremyW. Elliott,40, of Rogers, Ark.

» Travis L. Elliott,36, of Springfield

»BrandonD. Franklin,26, of Springfield

»Caitlyn E. Franklin,24, of Springfield

»Douglas K. Franklin,54, of Springfield

»Kerry Long,27, of Springfield

» SeanO’Connor,38, of Springfield

»Donald P. Parrett,40, of Springfield

» Eric Scott Reynolds,30, of Lebanon

» StephenB. Reynolds,33, of Eldridge

»Kent Tich Tran,32, of Springfield

Not pictured:

Jesse Hudson, 26; Dayne T.Nail, 24; and Kimberly S.Dewitt, 41, all of Springfield;Austin B. Nail, 24, andDe-Wayne T. Barnhart, 35, bothof Joplin; RayO.McCall, 69,of Douglas County; ClydeHicks, 50, of Aurora; and LolaHall, 41, address unknown.

By Jess Rollins JROLLINS@NEWS-LEADER.COM

$80KMONTHLY INCOME

In less than threeyears, one family-ownedbusiness is alleged to have madenearly $7 million sellingsynthetic drugs. NATHANPAPES/NEWS-LEADER

SYNTHETIC

DRUGTRADE

“The amount of money they can get from selling thisstuff, in my opinion, is pretty much astronomical.”BOBWELSH, of the Missouri Safety Center

ADucatimotorcycle, property in northernCali-fornia, guns andmillions in cash are among theassets federal authorities have seized from

scores of suspected peddlers of synthetic drugs.

See SYNTHETIC DRUGS, Page 4A

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012 § SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI § NEWS-LEADER.COM § A GANNETT COMPANY

Sharing dinneron Christmas Day

Hundreds of volunteers at localchurches and nonprofit organiza-tions will be slicing, dicing, cook-ing and decorating in the daysleading up to Christmas in order tofeed others a holiday meal. “This isan open invitation to anybody inthe community, particularly thosewho would otherwise be alone onChristmas,” said the Rev. Greg Ellis,of First and Calvary PresbyterianChurch, one of the churches partic-ipating. “It could also be some-body who is on hard times andmight not be able to provide aChristmas meal for their family.”Faith, 5B

Obama urges leadersto make fiscal cliff deal

President Barack Obama issueda stern summons to congressionalleaders Friday to approve legisla-tion before year’s end to preventtax increases on millions of middleclass Americans and prevent anexpiration of long-term unemploy-ment benefits for the jobless. “Istill think we can get it done,” hesaid. Page 5A

Push for housing forveterans continues

Members of the Springfield CityCouncil are still pushing for feder-ally backed housing vouchers forveterans. But the Housing Author-ity of Springfield says its staff andfunding can’t support the VeteransAffairs Supportive Housing pro-gram, which provides rental assis-tance for homeless veterans withhelp from the federal Departmentof Veterans Affairs. On Friday,housing authority director TomBarnett said there is no solutionyet to funding the program.Ozarks, 1B

INSIDE

First and Calvary PresbyterianChurch will serve Christmas dinnerto the public. SUBMITTED PHOTO

RECRUITING, YOUTH CONTRIBUTE TO BEARS’ PLIGHT / SPORTS, 1C

Automotive 1FBusiness 7AClassified 6CComics 8BCrossword 6BDear Abby 6BDeaths 8AEmployment 6CFaith 5BHeloise 6BHoroscope 6BLottery 1B

Merchandise 6CNation/World 2AOpinion 3BOzarks 1BReal EstateFor Sale 7CRentals 7C

Sports 1CStocks 7ASudoku 6BTelevision 8CWeather 3A

Index VOL. 122, NO. 357©2012, NEWS-LEADER

Doctors, pharmacists andindustry representativesadded their perspectives tothe debate Friday: should thecity of Springfield require aprescription for pseudoephe-drine in an effort to reducemeth labs?

Two very different sug-gestions emerged at the two-hour meeting.

On one side, two doctorsand two pharmacists favoreda prescription-only require-ment. The inconveniencesuffered by consumers isnegligible, they said, espe-cially compared to the publichealth benefit.

On the other side, a thirdpharmacist and three lobby-ists opposed a prescriptionrequirement. The decision,they said, should be left tothe state.

Anti-prescription

“If you all make it pre-scription, Iwouldmakemoremoney. But I’m not interest-ed in making more money,”said Lynn Morris, owner ofthe 28-store Family Pharma-cy chain.

Morris, who was recentlyelected to the Missouri legis-lature, said he would soon in-troduce a bill that would re-duce the amount of pseudoe-phedrine a person could buy.

“Let’s make it really hardfor them to get the quantitiesthey need to make meth,” hesaid.

The issue must be ad-dressed at the state level,Morris said adding: “Unlesseverybody does it, you arejust pushing it to a differentarea.”

JimMoody, who lobbies inJefferson City on behalf ofover-the-counter drug mak-ers, questioned the premisethat requiring a prescriptionfor pseudoephedrine wouldactually reduce the numberof meth labs.

Any solution, he added,should be made at the statelevel, and there is very littlesupport there for a statewideprescription requirement. To

Panelhearsviewson drugDoctors, pharmacistsjoin debate on limitingpseudoephedrine salesBy Jess RollinsJROLLINS@NEWS-LEADER.COM

SeeMEETING, Page 4A

WASHINGTON — National Ri-fle Association CEO Wayne La-Pierre said Friday that futureschool shootings like the one inNewtown, Conn., one week agocanonlybeprevented if schoolshave armed police officers, justas the Secret Service protectsPresident Barack Obama.

Guns were not to blame forthe mass shooting at Sandy

Hook Elementary School thatkilled 20 children and six adultslast week, LaPierre said.

“The only thing that stops abadguywith a gun is a goodguywith gun,” LaPierre said at thenews conference, which was in-terrupted twice by anti-gun ac-tivists.

“Politicians pass laws forgun-free school zones,” La-Pierre said. “They issue pressreleases bragging about them.They post signs advertising

NRA: Put armed police in all schoolsCEO blames rampageon anti-gun advocates,violent video gamesBy Aamer Madhaniand Jackie KucinichUSA Today

INSIDEDetails about the Sandy Hook schoolshooter emerge, Page 5A

See CEO, Page 4A

Activist Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink, is led away by security as sheprotests during a statement by National Rifle Association executivevice president Wayne LaPierre, left, on Friday. AP

540 Sunny skiestoday; mostlyclear at night3A370

Precipitation: 10%

Weather

$1DAILY

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