Man shares story of his fight to bring down the synthetic drug trade, starting with the Curious Goods conspirators, whom he believes responsible for his 14-year-old son's death.
Lance Dyer is ready for Lafayette to hear his story. Dyer is from rural Georgia, and he's a top witness in the federal government's case against the nine Curious Goods conspirators.
Dyer will get his chance to talk come Jan. 17. That's the day he's scheduled to appear here in federal court to give a victim impact statement during the sentencing hearings of Drew T. Green and Thomas W. Malone Jr.
Malone
Green
Green and Malone represent the highest links in the Curious Good conspiracy chain and are the admitted masterminds of a multi-million dollar research chemical empire responsible for smokable synthetic products like "Mr. Miyagi," the synthetic marijuana at the heart of the Curious Goods case.
"We rang the bell on these guys," says Dyer. "We're the first ones to be able to bring it all back to the distributors, not just the store or head shop that sold the product. I found these guys by searching trade link groups where they were advertising their products."
Dyer's 14-year-old son, Dakota, smoked Mr. Miyagi once, on March 10, 2012, and in less than two hours found a pistol and took his own life.
Haralson Country Coroner Daniel Hutcheson tells IND Monthly he remembers investigating Dakota's death. So far, he says, it's the first and only case of its kind in the rural Georgia community.
Dakota's official cause of death is listed as "self-inflicted," Hutcheson says. "The official cause of death does not mention synthetic marijuana," the coroner continues. "But based on the evidence collected from my investigation, my report does mention the role synthetic marijuana played in Dakota's death."
Hutcheson's report names Mr. Miyagi specifically as the chemical responsible for inciting the "psychotic" episode experienced by Dakota Dyer right before his suicide.
Following January's sentencing hearing, Dyer is scheduled to return to Lafayette in July to testify against the remaining seven
Dakota Blaze Dyer
defendants, including Lafayette criminal defense attorney Daniel Stanford, Curious Goods owner Richard Buswell and his partner/lawyer Barry Domingue.
"I've come from the dark side, and I hope these narco-terrorists and merchants of death realize they're staring down the barrel of federal time," Dyer says.
The next year for Dyer will be busy compiling a database for the victims of research chemicals, a project he is spearheading through the Dakota Dyer Foundation.
"Our organization is in the process of compiling all the names, ages, locations, what products they used and what mental or physical repercussions came of it," says Dyer. "Us, and eight similar organizations throughout the country are sending out blanket contact to the parents of victims. The information we're looking for, we'll get it."
Click here, here and here for more of IND Monthly's coverage on the Curious Goods conspiracy.
Check out the Dakota Dyer Foundation here.