Vincennes Police Chief Robert Dunham said that items considered to be drug paraphernalia are being confiscated by agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Other items were not being removed, he said.

Barmes allegedly is in violation of a federal law which prohibits the sale of, and offering for sale, drug paraphernalia, Dunham said.

However, Barmes has not been arrested and as of noon today Barmes has not been charged with any crime.

Dunham said a DEA agent in Pennsylvania discovered what he considered illegal activity while working a case in Pittsburgh. He was working a drug case when he discovered an invoice from Barmes Wholesale. The DEA has been working with Dunham for the past 2 1/2 months to secure search warrants on Barmes´ property.

DEA officers arrived here Monday and issued 11 search warrant on all businesses owned by Barmes as well as his home and the houses of his grown children who work with the family business. U.S. Customs agents also are involved because the drug paraphernalia was allegedly shipped through the mail.

An affadavit for probable cause was filed by the Pittsburgh office of the DEA, which allowed agents to enter and remove items they believe are in violation of federal law, provided search warrants are issued.

Barmes owns Barmes Wholesale, 114 Main St., where there is a shipping department; Barmes Woodworking and Cabinets, 24 N. First St.; and Barbara´s Gift Shop, 120 Main St. He also is associated with Second Sight Wholesale (formerly Wannabeez Gift Shop), 119 N. Second St.

The search warrants were obtained from a federal judge by the Philadelphia Field Division of the DEA, Pittsburgh District Office, Dunham said. The businesses have allegedly been shipping drug paraphernalia to Pennsylvania which is in violation of federal law.

Bruce Teitelbaum, an assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, said it is a federal crime for anyone to sell or to offer for sale drug paraphernalia across state lines. It also is illegal for a person to use the U.S. Postal Service or any other means to ship drug paraphernalia, Teitelbaum said.

While it is not illegal in Indiana to have drug paraphernalia, it is illegal in Pennsylvania, Teitelbaum said. It is against the law to have drug paraphernalia in Indiana if it contains illegal substances.

Federal authorities are expected to take four or five semitractors full of Barmes´ business merchandise back to Pittsburgh where they will be reviewed. Computers and any paperwork also will be reviewed at to see if criminal charges will be filed, Dunham said.

The penalty for selling or offering for sale drug paraphernalia can be up to three years in prison for each count, Teitelbaum said.

Federal statute defines drug paraphernalia as "any equipment, product or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance prohibited by law."

Acrylic, glass, stone, ceramic, wood and water pipes are considered drug paraphernalia, Teitelbaum said. So are carbonation tubes, smoking or carbonation masks, roach clips, "coke" spoons, chamber pipes, bongs, air-driven pipes (come with fans), wired cigarette papers and cocaine freebase kits.

Some of the controlled substances being ingested into the body using these methods are marijuana, cocaine, hashish, PCP and methamphetamine, Teitelbaum said.

When considering whether an item is drug paraphernalia, federal investigators look at whether oral or written instructions are given as to how to use the product, if there is national or local advertising, and whether the owner of the business supplying the product also sells tobacco for smoking, Teitelbaum said.

"For a while I thought I was being held up by a bunch of hoodlums," Barmes said this morning from his home on Overhead Road near Fritchton. "They wouldn´t show me a badge or tell me their names."

The DEA officers were armed with weapons and a search warrant but Barmes said he was not allowed to see the search warrant until officers were done.

"The guy told me he would put it (the search warrant) on the table and I could see it when they were done," Barmes said.

When Barmes was able to look at the federally-issued document, he was able to determine that the agents were looking for "any books or records of any kind, computer hard drives or anything else they could use to charge me with something."

DEA agents entered Barmes´ home about 6 a.m. Monday. He said that although DEA agents were quiet about what they were looking for, they were adamant about what they wanted him to do. They demanded he open a safe and if he didn´t, "they said they would tear it open," Barmes said.

"They told me that if I didn´t cooperate they would tear up the entire house," he said. "They also said that if they needed to, they would dig up every inch of the 17 acres I have out here. I just gave them the keys to everything so they wouldn´t bust the locks."

Divers from the Indiana State Police searched a pond on his property to determine if he had some kind of underwater storage unit. DEA agents ended up seizing $250,000 in cash from Barmes´ home.

"We pay a lot of our bills in cash and we pay a lot of our independent contractors in cash," he said. "The IRS doesn´t like that. It makes it hard for them to tax you because there is no paper trail. Even though I do use the bank, I don´t use a lot of checks because I can look in the barrel where the money is and see if I have any to spend."

Barmes said he was unsure of the status of his money because DEA agents said it was "ill-gotten gains."

"Their problem is they believe the money came from selling drug paraphernalia," he said. "My only regret is that I can´t pay a lot of plain, hard-working people."

He does know he can´t pay his employees because he has no money and that people working for him will no longer have a job. Barmes said he was told by DEA agents that "I was out of business."

"It is my understanding they are taking everything out of my businesses and hauling it all back to Pennsylvania," he said. "After they go through everything, I guess they will decide if they will arrest me."

Barmes had not been charged with anything.

"But that doesn´t mean they won´t be back for me," he said.

Barmes said it is no secret that his wholesale businesses ship all types of smoking devices throughout the country. But the DEA sees the items as drug paraphernalia, he said. "Drug paraphernalia" is considered to be anything used to ingest drugs.

On the Barmes Wholesale Web site and in catalogs, items such as acrylic, ceramic and glass smoking pipes are for sale as well as metal hand pipes and "bullets."

Barmes said that the catalogs specify the items are to be used for tobacco. He said it is not illegal for him to sell the items or ship them in Indiana, but he was told it is illegal to ship the items to certain other states because of the Interstate Commerce Act.

He said he knows that the DEA has invoices from boxes shipped from his businesses to Pittsburgh.

"That (the invoices) is why they came in to start with," he said.

DEA agents busted windows at Barmes´ businesses on Main Street.

"They could have gotten keys to the joint before they started breaking windows," he said. They pulled everything out and just tossed it."

Barmes did go to the sidewalk across the street from the businesses where two people with him took pictures of the damaged properties.

"I guess you have to just roll with the punches," he said. "This too will pass. Now that I know how they operate, I will have to build the fences higher."