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Solana Beach

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A federal grand jury Friday indicted two North County residents on charges that they operated a highly productive crystal methamphetamine lab in Solana Beach.

Real estate broker Connie Coe, 40, of Cardiff is accused of conspiring with Rex Brown, 38, of Encinitas to find an isolated building to house the lab and then cover up the illegal activities. Coe was paid $2,000 for her role in the scheme, the indictment says.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents say they seized enough chemicals to manufacture 6.4 million doses of crystal methamphetamine in a raid on the Solana Beach laboratory in February, 1985.

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Besides the conspiracy charge, the grand jury accused both Coe and Brown of manufacturing and possessing the drug. Coe also was charged with giving false statements to agents investigating the case.

In a separate indictment, Brown was charged with encouraging Coe to lie to the grand jury and with lying himself during a hearing last year before U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving.

Brown disappeared last fall after an earlier indictment in the case; an additional indictment Friday charged him with bail jumping.

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