Abraham
Even more specifically, she has been indicted on "seven counts of mail fraud, one count of misbranding a drug, one count of introducing goods into domestic commerce by means of false statement and criminal forfeiture." In other words, she sold an effective drug remedy as an herbal alternative to drugs. Which is serious enough, but it's not the same thing as selling heroin on the street corner.
Abraham doesn't deny the arrest but doesn't confirm it either, and in her blog she says that she will be at both OtakuMex in New Mexico this weekend and both Anime St. George and Yaoi Con in October. She also offers in a tweet that Bleeding Cool's source, the Las Vegas Sun, is "sloppy & inaccurate."
Thanks to user Ruby_Alexandrine for the tip!
I am not going to be judgmental or give harsh criticism. I want to read facts about the case rather than hearsay and read misinformation. Until then, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
@gia - You are welcome. ^_^
Indeed. I think we need some in depth investigation on this.
How is intentionally misrepresenting and selling a stimulant that is commonly used in the manufacturing of meth not be the same as dealing other drugs? DXM at 500mg can kill someone through cardiac and respiratory arrest, if they aren't already stumbling around and running into things.
First off, NOWHERE in the Sun's article does it suggest that she put 500mg of dextromethorphan hydrobromide in each pill-- the remedy's site's ads claimed there were 500mg of the so-called "herbs" in the pills, and the pills "exclusively" contained DXM, but nowhere does it actually state the mass of the individual pills, so we don't know how much was in each dose. It may or may not be 500, and we simply don't have the information. So I'd be careful about stating things like that.
Now, 500mg would be considered a "medium" dose by recreational standards, where a "high" dose is 600+ and a "lethal dose" is considered to be 50-500mg/kg, which is milligrams per kilogram. So, if you weigh 150lbs (~68kg), an outright lethal dose is well into the thousands range. I can't tell you how likely it is to cause serious damage at that medium dose, but it seems to me that if someone had suffered death, injury, or other harm, there would be a charge as such.
On top of that, remember that this is an indictment, not a verdict; ANN is now reporting that she has plead "not guilty," and probably not in an affirmative defense.
Honestly, i feel that if this crime did take place as the indictment suggests, it was probably a crime of stupidity (i.e. "cough medicine will work and won't hurt anyone!" without researching volume), which I most certainly place in a different category from coke and heroin dealers shooting each other and pimping out clients and whatnot in the street.
In the meantime, I would hesitate to condemn anyone until the facts are truly laid bare.
Additionally, I think you might be mixing up DXM with the nasal congestion relief drug pseudeoephedrine, as I couldn't find any information on DXM being made into meth, although it is clearly used recreationally.
I'm impressed by your research, but the information on what was sold is based off of the initial findings in the indictment and until its posted in its entirety, we won't know all of the details. As for confusing DXM and Pseudoephedrine, both are used in the manufacture of meth, DXM being easier to acquire in mass quantities now than pseudoephedrine.
I'm not one to condemn anyone's actions outright, but lets use common sense here. There's been rumors floating around for years about what she did to fund and start Yaoi Press and a lot of people are starting to come out of the woodwork making similar statements. The not guilty plea won't help her, especially since the feds are involved.
Better she cops to it now to plea out than to deal with a jury trial where a jury will think she's a dealer no matter what the defense presents.
There are also people who have serious allergies to some of the chimicals in most over the counter cough medicines, such as dextromethorphan. The allergies to this chemical can be uncommon, but dangerous none the less. This chemical can also have serious side effect to children under four years of age. It's why doses of certain cough medicines are different for children. A parent could accidentally miss dose their child thinking it's herbal. These actions, if true, could of cost someone their life.
This is why most of the charges she's facing involves fraud. She's not being charged like a coke dealer. I don't see any of the normal charges, at least listed here. It's also very likely they have piled on the charges, because the prosecuting attorney is looking to get her to plead.
From these charges listed it's that seven counts of mail fraud that could be serious. That could be a five year sentence for every count.
This is also important, "one count of introducing goods into domestic commerce by means of false statement and criminal forfeiture.". Notice that it's only a single count and it says 'introducing goods'. If she was being charges like a heroine dealer. This would say something more along the lines of "introducing/distribution" of a controlled substance.
If no one was hurt from her actions. I think she stands a good chance at making a good plea deal.
Pleading not guilty could be a big mistake unless she can prove without a shadow of a doubt that she didn't do this. I don't think they would of brought these charges without some evidence. They most likely have a complaining witness, possibly ordered from her to prove distribution, and I can almost guaranty they
subpoenaed her bank records and will know if she was buying large amounts of cough medicine.
I just hope she didn't mail over state lines. That could be huge trouble. That could give those states the right to charge her individually and it wouldn't fall under double jeopardy.