BEN NEARY Associated Press writer | Posted: Friday, August 22, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Federal authorities have charged an Oregon woman with distributing the hallucinogenic drug LSD, including some that authorities say went to the Rainbow Family gathering in western Wyoming last month.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Wyoming has filed a criminal complaint charging Vanessa Marie Griffee, 31, of Eugene, Ore., with felony distribution of LSD and conspiracy to distribute the drug.
Griffee made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in Oregon earlier this month. She's scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Cheyenne on Sept. 9. If a federal magistrate determines she should stand trial, she would enter a formal plea to the charges after arraignment.
Eugene lawyer J.W. Frank, who represented Griffee at her initial appearance, declined comment Wednesday on the government's case against her. Cheyenne lawyer Terry Harris, who represents Griffee in U.S. District Court in Wyoming, also declined comment on the case.
A confidential source told Colorado investigators last month that a North Carolina man at the Rainbow Family gathering in Wyoming claimed to be distributing LSD there, according to a sworn statement filed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent Timothy Walsh. The statement was filed in court with the charges against Griffee.
Law enforcement officers searched the North Carolina man's home last month, according to Walsh's statement. He said that the man voluntarily told investigators that Griffee had been shipping him LSD repeatedly for months.
Walsh said the man told investigators that Griffee sent the LSD to him at "post offices that were located near music festivals and hippie gatherings."
The man told investigators that he had received a shipment of LSD sheets from Griffee before he traveled to the Rainbow Family gathering in Wyoming, Walsh said. The man said that while he was at the gathering, he traded a sheet of paper containing 100 doses of LSD to another man there for a red beryl gemstone.
The man also told investigators that he had shipped LSD he received from Griffee to a Cheyenne post office box, Walsh stated.
No criminal charges had been filed against the man in Wyoming federal court as of Thursday.
The annual Rainbow Family gathering draws thousands of people from around the country to a different spot on public lands each year. An estimated 7,000 people attended this year's event in Sublette County near the community of Big Sandy.
Several Rainbow Family members were arrested in July following a confrontation that federal officials say started when officers tried to arrest one Rainbow Family member for an alleged drug offense. Forest Service officials accused Rainbow participants of throwing rocks and sticks at officers during the incident.
Rainbow Family members have said that federal officers antagonize people at the gatherings. Many have stated that federal officers shot members unnecessarily with nonlethal pepperball guns during the July incident in Wyoming. The Wyoming ACLU is investigating their claims.