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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowVertellus Specialties Inc., a chemical manufacturer with a plant on the southwest side of Indianapolis, has settled a civil claim brought by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Indianapolis-based Vertellus sold a chemical used in making PCP, or angel dust, to a suspicious business, DEA inspectors found in 2007.
Joe Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, filed a complaint about the company's lack of oversight and reporting of a controlled substance on Sept. 20. The complaint was withdrawn the same day, in keeping with terms of the settlement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Julian said.
DEA agents found that on Aug. 9, 2006, a business calling itself DABS Consulting Group of Richmond, Texas, bought a 176-kilogram drum of piperidine, a common building block in pharmaceuticals that's also classified as a controlled substance because of its link to PCP.
DABS Consulting Group could not be traced, and it never paid Vertellus for the chemical, according to the complaint.
Vertellus never reported the transaction as suspicious, which is required by law, the complaint said.
The most Vertellus could have been fined was $35,000—$25,000 for failure to verify the business as legitimate and $10,000 for failure to report, according to the complaint.
Julian declined to reveal details of the settlement.
Brad Williams, Vertellus' attorney at Ice Miller, said the company had not authorized him to speak about the case.
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