U.S. indicts four in drug-sale plot

FARGO, N.D. — Federal prosecutors in North Dakota have charged four men with conspiring to import and sell controlled substances used to make synthetic hallucinogenic drugs.

In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors describe Charles Carlton, a 28-year-old man from Katy, Texas, as the “leader, organizer, manager and supervisor” of a conspiracy to import controlled substances from Asia and Europe and resell them over the Internet to domestic buyers.

Prosecutors say Carlton imported hallucinogenic chemicals from China, the U.K., Austria, Poland, Greece, Spain, and Canada through a business he used, Motion Resources LLC, which were then distributed throughout the U.S.

Carlton and Byron Landry, 27, of Kiln, Miss., each face two counts of conspiracy to distribute, and 25-year-old John Polinski, of Houston, and 27-year-old Ryan Lane, of East Grand Forks, Minn., face one count each.