Drug Officials Defend Raid and Shooting : Law Enforcement: However, they say that the wounded Poway man won’t be charged and that no drugs were found.

Federal authorities said Friday that a Poway man who was shot and seriously wounded when agents raided his home Thursday won’t be charged and that no drugs were found at the scene.

The authorities, however, stopped short of calling the raid a mistake.

Special Agent John C. Kelley Jr. of the U.S. Customs Service told a press conference that agents involved in the midnight raid Wednesday acted on “reliable” information that Donald Lee Carlson’s home was used to store cocaine smuggled into the country by a criminal organization.

His comments followed a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune that claimed, citing unidentified sources, that the raid was based on faulty information from an informant who had been dropped as a contact by the Drug Enforcement Administration because he was considered unreliable.

Kelley said the raid resulted from two months of investigation by local and federal agencies and that Carlson’s home in the 14000 block of Silver Ridge Drive was one of several for which search warrants had been obtained.

Carlson, 41, remained in serious but stable condition Friday at Palomar Medical Center suffering from gunshot wounds in the arm, leg and chest resulting from the shoot-out, said a hospital spokeswoman who added that the wounds are not considered life-threatening.

A female special agent for the Customs Service also suffered superficial wounds in the gunfire, which Kelley said began when Carlson started shooting.

According to Sheriff’s Department reports, agents arrived at the Poway home and demanded to be admitted. Carlson then reportedly opened fire and was shot after the agents stormed through the front door.

Some neighbors have disputed the official account, stating that the agents did not identify themselves before entering the home. The neighbors also were doubtful that Carlson, the vice president of a local company, would be involved in drug activity.

When informed that Carlson was under investigation, a woman who works for the Silver Ridge Development where Carlson lives said she was shocked.

“I told them, ‘You gotta be kidding me . . . . At that house? No way,’ ” said the woman, who asked only to be identified as Dottie. “There’s no drugs at that house, and I told them that. That guy Carlson was Mr. Milquetoast.”

Initial police reports Wednesday identified Carlson as a drug suspect.

However on Friday, U.S. Atty. William Braniff announced that no federal charges have been filed or will be filed against Carlson.

“The individual who was in the house who was shot has not been charged with any federal offense, and there is no present intent to charge him with anything,” Braniff said.

“The matter is being reviewed very carefully.”

Braniff doesn’t regard the raid as a mistake, stating the raid was performed only after a U.S. magistrate issued the search warrant.

Further, he said, the agents had been granted permission to conduct the raid shortly after midnight, which is only done under special circumstances when a judge considers it appropriate.

Braniff did say that the raid was based on a tip from an informant who is considered a proven, reliable source of information by the DEA and the Customs Service.

Braniff and Kelley denied that the informant had been dropped by the DEA as the newspaper account stated.

“Both the DEA and customs checked out the reliability of the informant before they used him,” Braniff said.

However, a somewhat vague statement issued jointly by the DEA and the Customs Service said the informant is under investigation.

Agents, said the statement, “are currently investigating the prior claims made by the cooperating individual involving this investigation. Any evidence discovered that the cooperating individual has deliberately misled the agents . . . will be referred to the U.S. attorney’s office for appropriate action.”

Times staff writer John M. Glionna contributed to this report.