HANDLING 'NEXT BIG DRUG PROBLEM'

When Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy first began prosecuting
methamphetamine cases, he didn't know much about the drug.

Now, Heaphy knows the homemade drug is cheap to make, can be injected
or snorted and that it hooks people easily.

He's also seen the devastating consequences for upstanding community
members who never intended to lose their money, their relationships
and lives to a drug rising in use across the country - including
Central Virginia - and quickly becoming the next big drug problem.

"I was surprised and discouraged at how addictive and how quickly it
changed people's lives," Heaphy said as he sat in a conference room
inside his Charlottesville office.

"It's like they fell off a cliff. It affects every relationship,
their livelihoods. It ages them. I didn't fully appreciate it until I saw it."

Heaphy, 41, is the key federal prosecutor in the case of the first
large Central Virginia meth ring that several local law enforcement
agencies busted in 2003 after a more than three-year investigation.

Fifteen people were initially arrested and charged with federal drug
possession and distribution, but the bust led to several other
spin-off investigations and even more arrests.Those arrested have
either pleaded guilty, been convicted or are still awaiting trial in
the Lynchburg Federal Courthouse.

"The case was built largely on insider information. There was some
physical evidence, but (for the most part) people were charged,
pleaded guilty and told us about others," Heaphy said.

The cases differed from others Heaphy has worked on because they
relied on the word of felons, which is harder to prove to a jury. But
those charged corroborated some of the other's stories, he said.

The original 15 people charged have been convicted and most have
already been sentenced.

"It's been very successful. All have been held accountable, even
those that helped us," Heaphy said.

FBI Special Agent Mark MacKizer, who worked closely with Heaphy on
the case, said Heaphy sees the prosecution as a team effort.

"He relies on us to fully gather all the facts and make a
determination of their level (of culpability) and he asks us point
blank for our opinion," MacKizer said.

"During the prosecution phase, he's very cognizant of our view so
there's great communication between law enforcement and him as a
prosecutor, which effectively makes the team approach more viable."

MacKizer also calls Heaphy aggressive, in the sense that he's willing
to try the tough cases, even by himself if necessary.

"He's well informed, in the sense that he really knows his cases,"
MacKizer said. "He takes a personal involvement, not (like he has) a
stake in the case but that he takes the time to really know the cases
and be prepared. He's extremely thorough and has a strong sense of
justice."Heaphy said he's always wanted to do something that had an
impact on people's lives.

"This does. It's really satisfying and interesting. The human
dimension is like no other," he said. "You see real courage. You see
real pain."

Heaphy graduated from the University of Virginia in 1986 with a
Bachelor's Degree in English and earned his law degree in 1991. After
that, he served as a law clerk for the Court of Appeals in
Washington, D.C., before working for a private law firm in San Francisco.

He returned in 1994 to Washington, where he worked as an assistant
U.S. Attorney for nine years. He transferred to the U.S. Attorney's
Charlottesville division, which is one of three offices in the
Western District of Virginia, three years ago.

Heaphy said he didn't know much about meth before prosecuting the
cases here because the drug wasn't a big problem in Washington.

The chemically addictive drug makes people feel exhilarated, allowing
them to stay awake for hours, and even days, he said. But after such
a ride, users will crash hard, often sleeping for a 24 hours
straight, MacKizer said.

The drug impairs a person's cognitive abilities and can cause
physical problems, such as skin ulcers.

And, unlike cocaine or heroin, which have to be imported, meth can be
made by mixing common household products.

Some of the people prosecuted in the Central Virginia meth ring were
truck drivers, Heaphy said, who first used meth just to stay awake.
Then they began to need the drug.

"It's a hard drug to use selectively. Once it gets its claws in you,
it pulls you down," he said.

Not only does the government need to prosecute meth users and
dealers, but it also needs to provide proper recovery treatments, Heaphy said.

He hopes that his federal prosecution has made an impact on people.

"I don't believe we've stopped people from using," he said. "But I
hope that people now have to calculate into their decision to do this
the risk involved. Now they have to factor in (the possibility of)
federal prosecution."