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California – from www.marinij.com – A former Mill Valley merchant arrested by drug agents last year was selling powdered fillers to dilute cocaine, not illegal substances to make methamphetamine, his lawyer said Monday.

David McDonald, 72, began his trial Monday morning on charges stemming from drug raids on The Pleasure Principle, his defunct gift and pornography shop on Throckmorton Avenue, and his residence in Fairfax.

McDonald chose to have Judge Paul Haakenson decide the case without a jury.

McDonald was targeted in early 2011 by the West Contra Costa Narcotic Enforcement Team, or Westnet, after a tip from a confidential informant in the East Bay. The informant said he knew a Mill Valley businessman who was selling large quantities of ephedrine, which can be used to make meth, out of his storefront, former Westnet detective Scot Burr testified.

The task force identified McDonald as the suspect and sent an undercover detective to gain his trust through a couple of small buys. The undercover detective, wearing a hidden wire, bought some bagged powders from McDonald on two occasions, and preliminary tests showed a positive match for methamphetamine and ephedrine, according to court testimony.

The task force sent the powders to the state Department of Justice for confirmation. Meanwhile, based on their preliminary findings, detectives arranged a meeting with McDonald to buy what they thought were 8 pounds of ephedrine and a pound of meth. A major bust was set for March 23, 2011, at McDonald’s store and home.

The raids resulted in the confiscation of $29,000 in cash, two loaded guns and numerous pounds of white powder, authorities said. McDonald was charged with drug possession for sale, transportation or sale of controlled substances, maintaining a location for drug crimes, possession of ephedrine with intent to manufacture meth, and possession of a loaded firearm while in possession of meth.

But later investigators learned that the initial tests on the drug had yielded false results for methamphetamine and ephedrine, according to court testimony Monday.

“I don’t have a lot of faith in those tests,” Burr said Monday. “I’ve seen a lot of false positives.”

He said the reason the task force moved so quickly on McDonald was because it was also working on a different wiretapping operation at the time. The task force saw a opportunity to squeeze in the McDonald bust during a lull in the other case.

The district attorney’s office eventually reduced the charges against McDonald. He is now charged with one count of selling a fake drug and two counts of possession for sale of phenylpropanolamine knowing it would be used to make meth, said Deputy District Attorney Sean Kensinger.

McDonald’s public defender, Michael Coffino, argued Monday that his client is a victim of a misunderstanding. Based on the false results of the preliminary drug tests, the task force was predisposed to think McDonald was offering meth and ephedrine in the final sale on March 23, but McDonald thought he was just selling filler to a cocaine dealer who wanted to dilute his product, according to Coffino.

The result was that the undercover detective and McDonald were talking about different things, and the detective “was never explicit about what he was getting,” Coffino said.

“(The detective) came to that conversation with a massive false assumption,” he said. “Their meeting was not only a clash of generations, but a clash of cultures.”

Moreover, Coffino said, the substance that McDonald is now charged with selling — phenylpropanolamine — cannot be used to make meth, therefore McDonald cannot be guilty of knowing he was selling it to make meth. However, state law defines phenylpropanolamine as a precursor to meth.

The trial resumes Tuesday. McDonald is not in custody.