Local News in Brief : Chemist Gets 15 Years in Drug ‘Lab’ Case
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A North Hollywood chemist who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to manufacture 35 pounds of methamphetamine was sentenced Monday to 15 years in federal prison.
Luther Dickson, 48, will be eligible for parole in five years, said Assistant U. S. Atty. Harriet M. Rolnick. Dickson pleaded guilty Sept. 4 and was sentenced before Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Dwight McKinney, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, said earlier that Dickson has a doctorate in chemistry. He was arrested in April at a drug “laboratory” in the 11500 block of La Maida Street, McKinney said.
Dickson and an associate, Larry King of West Hollywood, were arrested in June, 1985, at the same North Hollywood house on suspicion of manufacturing fentanyl--a form of synthetic heroin known as “China white.” But the charges were later dropped because federal narcotics agents refused to identify an informant and wanted to continue a wiretap, the DEA spokesman said.
In the latest case, King, 39, pleaded guilty last week to the same charge as Dickson in U. S. District Court. He will be sentenced on Feb. 2.
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