Agents Seize $1-Million Home, Hold Owner : Drugs: The Pacific Palisades dwelling is believed to be the manufacturing site for a major Quaalude operation, officials say.

Federal and local law enforcement agents Friday seized a $1-million Pacific Palisades home and arrested its owner, who is suspected of using the house as a manufacturing center for a major Southern California Quaalude operation.

The owner, Robin Allen, was asleep when officers arrived Friday afternoon, and did not come to the door despite their pounding. More than a dozen officers--representing the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and the Los Angeles Police Department--broke the lock on the garage door of the two-story home and forced their way in.

“There’s not a single thing here,” said a stunned Allen, whom officers found in his upstairs bedroom. “I’m not involved in drugs. I’m not involved in drug sales. . . . This is harassment.”

Moments later, officers discovered a crack cocaine pipe, dozens of small plastic bags, a butane torch and other drug paraphernalia in Allen’s den. All were in view, and officers did not search the house for more drugs.

“He’s got a narcotics workbench here,” Ralph B. Lochridge, a special agent with the DEA, said of the paraphernalia in Allen’s den. “This is everything he needs to get high and to distribute these drugs.”

Los Angeles Police Officer Mark Severino said Allen would be charged with possession of narcotics paraphernalia and violating a court order in a domestic violence case involving a girlfriend.

Neighbors watched as officers took Allen away, and afterward several said they were relieved to see him go.

“I have kids. I don’t need this,” said one neighbor, adding that Allen’s exploits were widely talked about in the exclusive, security-conscious community that is guarded by a fence and has a security guard posted at the gate. “He’s wild.”

Friday’s arrest is the latest in a string of government actions against Allen, whose drug arrests date back at least to 1990, when he was booked on suspicion of involvement with a major Quaalude-manufacturing operation. In that case, agents say they found plastic bags with methaqualone--the scientific name for Quaaludes--and 500,000 empty gelatin capsules in a closet of Allen’s home.

In addition, a pill press capable of churning out thousands of Quaaludes a day was set up in the garage.

“In the 22 years I’ve been (working) in L.A., I don’t remember any other time that we’ve seized a pill press for Quaaludes,” said DEA Special Agent John Marcello. “This was big.”

Allen denied any connection to the Quaaludes in the 1990 arrest, and instead blamed two others.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in 1990, Allen told agents that the pill press was set up while he was on vacation. When he returned, Allen said he asked his house guests what the pill press was. Their response, according to him: “Don’t ask what you wouldn’t want to know.”

In an affidavit filed Friday, the government says that Allen was arrested again on March 12, 1992, after his girlfriend showed officers Allen’s drug paraphernalia. At that time, Allen returned home as the officers were leaving and led them on a 10-mile chase before surrendering, the affidavit states.

A search of Allen’s car turned up 900 Quaalude capsules and a cocaine pipe, according to the affidavit.

On March 24, Los Angeles police officers returned with a search warrant for Allen’s house and this time recovered 4.9 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia and several weapons, the affidavit states.

Until Friday, Allen was out on bail awaiting trial on charges related to his 1990 and 1992 drug arrests, but agents may seize property without a defendant being found guilty of a crime. Under drug-forfeiture laws, the government may take away property if a judge agrees with its contention that there is probable cause to believe it has been used in drug crimes or purchased with the proceeds of drug sales.

The seizure is a civil action taken against the house, and for the property to be forfeited, the government needs to persuade a jury that a preponderance of evidence favors its claim that the property was involved in drug crimes. In contrast to what it would have to prove in a criminal proceeding, the government does not have to prove its case “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

That distinction has drawn fire from civil libertarians, who argue that forfeiture laws unfairly deprive innocent people of their property. But it is a staple of the drug-fighting effort, and agents say it is one of their most potent tools.

“DEA agents now have a very real and a very powerful weapon to strike at the profits of these criminals,” said John M. Zienter, the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles DEA.