Bellevue Man Accused As Major Drug Dealer

Parking a Mercedes in a handicapped parking space brought Michael Neureiter face-to-face with police last spring.

What led to his arrest as a major methamphetamine drug dealer was what was in the car: a bag of marijuana, $14,750 in cash, a police scanner, a cellular phone, a scale, sifter and scoop, and 6.6 ounces of what appeared to be illegal narcotics. And a bunch of weapons.

Neureiter - Bellevue resident, real-estate agent, and, say authorities, drug dealer - is in the King County Jail, accused of running a major network for distributing methamphetamine, or "speed."

"He's at least a major distributor," said Bob Knief, deputy King County prosecutor.

The investigation of Neureiter's case is not unlike many drug cases brought into Seattle courts every year. It provides a glimpse into a world of drug dealing where the potential for big profits is great. A $15,000 investment in "meth" manufacturing can bring almost a $3 million payback, Knief said.

Neureiter, 40, is charged with transporting from Pennsylvania 100 pounds of a chemical used to make speed. The chemical can be used to produce 180 pounds of methamphetamine that sells for $1,000 an ounce, Knief said.

It was in March that Neureiter first attracted police attention.

That's when he parked in a handicapped stall at an apartment building he owns in the 5500 block of 42nd Avenue Southwest. Neureiter's attorney, Clay Terry of Bellevue, said Neureiter was to

meet his girlfriend.

A caller told police the car didn't have a handicapped parking permit and it looked like the driver might be "casing" the area.

When police arrived, they found Neureiter inside, nervous and "quite evasive."

When officers searched him, they found two semi-automatic weapons - a .40-caliber semi-automatic in a shoulder holster and a .25-caliber handgun in a belt holster. Two sets of handcuffs were in his coat pocket. Five knives and two boxes of ammunition also were found. When the car was taken to a towing lot, an attendant found two loaded handguns in the trunk.

Terry said his client has a "gun fetish," but he never shoots the weapons.

A search warrant was obtained and police found eight more ammunition clips and another semi-automatic weapon.

Neureiter was jailed but was bailed out. Then, on April 22, he was in a Safeway store in West Seattle when clerks noticed him pocketing some items, including several cans of lye, a chemical also used in making speed. Employees called police.

Again, Neureiter was arrested. His 1993 Jaguar was searched, and this time two bags of methamphetamines were found, along with two semi-automatic handguns, $5,000 in cash and a receipt for a storage locker, according to authorities.

Searching since January

It turned out that police had been looking at Neureiter since at least January, when San Diego intelligence officers contacted Seattle police about an arrest they'd made.

A San Diego defendant said Neureiter was "a major player in a methamphetamine production and distribution ring in Washington," according to court records. The San Diego defendant told how Neureiter was a real-estate agent, where he lived, how he kept chemicals and lab equipment in a secret room at his house and at apartments on South Cloverdale Street.

A search of the house turned up six more firearms, night-vision goggles, and methamphetamines, police reported. Police also found a downstairs room with walls covered with Mylar, a material used to conceal drug manufacturing.

Police checked Neureiter's financial records, and found that while he was falling behind on his bills and state Employment Security Department records showed he'd had no income since 1989, records at a bank showed he'd put $84,000 into one account there in six months in 1990.

While he'd done well in real estate, being able to buy a six-bedroom, house in 1984 for $190,000, by 1992 he was both falling behind in paying his bills and living a high-consumption life, driving expensive cars and making frequent trips, according to court documents.

Also found in the search were extensive records of purchases of materials used to make methamphetamines and phony business records, according to authorities.

"The facts show a sophisticated plan to . . . manufacture methamphetamine using false companies as fronts," Knief said.

Prosecutors say they found enough evidence to charge Neureiter with one count of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamines and two counts of possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, and two counts of possessing firearms while engaged in drug deals.

Wife acquitted

Last week, Neureiter's wife, Tula, 45, was tried and acquitted on a drug-possession charge stemming from the April 22 search at the house. She was charged after a baggie of methamphetamines was found in her purse. She said she and her husband had been living apart since January, that she'd found the narcotics the day before, and had planned to confront her husband about them that day.

At her trial, Tula Neureiter and Terry told how she and Neureiter had been married seven years, with Tula making as much as $52,000 a year as a hair stylist in a Bellevue Square salon and Neureiter sometimes making more than $500,000 a year in the real-estate business.

But Michael Neureiter was introduced to heroin after they'd been married for three years. He went through treatment, but later began using methamphetamines. He also began have an affair with a woman who was a methamphetamine user and who is accused of taking part in the conspiracy with him. She now is expected to testify against him, according to Terry.

"So he had two lives," Terry said. "This time he's really in trouble, not just legal trouble. This stuff has been very harmful to Michael. He was not a manufacturer."

Terry said there is an explanation for what happened to Neureiter, but he's not prepared to divulge that defense before the trial.

Terry said much of the police evidence is in error, including the conclusion that Neureiter has had no income from real estate since 1989.

Terry said he'll have witnesses testify Neureiter was making a lot of money in real estate, and marijuana allegedly found in the Neureiter house really was catnip.

Terry acknowledges his client had become a heroin and methamphetamine user, and thousands of dollars were spent on drugs.

"Methamphetamine started to drag him down," Terry said.