MAXIMUM SENTENCE IN CLUB-DRUG DEATH

A man who provided the powerful club drug that caused a Naperville
teenager's fatal overdose last year was handed the maximum possible
sentence Monday for that crime: five years in a state prison.

But that wasn't the worst of it for Garrett Harth, 22. He also was hit with
a second, 15-year maximum prison term by DuPage County Judge Robert
Anderson for an unrelated cocaine sale last year in Naperville.

The two prison sentences imposed Monday brought some comfort to the parents
of 18-year-old Sara Aeschlimann, a Naperville Central High School senior
who died on May 14, 2000, after overdosing at Harth's Naperville home.

''Sara's not coming back. At least, we got this guy off the street,'' said
the girl's father, Bob Aeschlimann.

Sara Aeschlimann died after taking what she apparently thought was Ecstasy,
a synthetic drug that's become very popular. What she actually took was a
similar but more powerful club drug called PMA, sometimes sold as a
substitute for Ecstasy and hard to distinguish from that drug. Aeschlimann
was the second of three young people in the Chicago area to die of PMA
overdoses in a three-week span last year--a series of deaths that focused
new attention on the dangers of club drugs and prompted a change in state
law that established tougher penalties on dealers who sell Ecstasy and
similar drugs.

Last week, Gov. Ryan signed the new sentencing law, which takes effect in
January. It means dealers who sell Ecstasy and similar drugs will face the
same stiff prison terms as those selling heroin or cocaine and also makes
it easier to level drug-induced homicide charges against dealers in cases
of fatal overdoses like Aeschlimann's.

Harth's sentences will run concurrently. He will likely serve about 51/2
years. ''Why did Sara have to fall prey to such an evil person?'' Jan
Aeschlimann, the dead girl's mother, asked during testimony Monday,
fighting back tears. ''I have never known such an evil, immoral, selfish,
manipulative predator as Garrett Harth.'' Defense attorney Daniel Collins
insisted that Harth wasn't to blame for Aeschlimann's death, saying that
the two friends knowingly took what they thought were Ecstasy tablets.

''They engaged in a dangerous activity together,'' Collins said. ''Garrett
loved Sara. This was an accident.'' In imposing his sentence, the judge
noted that Harth delayed calling for help when he saw that Aeschlimann had
fallen unconscious. Phone records showed Harth made at least three calls to
friends before calling 911. Prosecutors said Harth told a jailhouse
informant, in a conversation that was recorded, that Aeschlimann began
having seizures at about 7:30 a.m.--two hours before Harth called for help.

''He called friends before he called for help,'' Anderson said. ''This is
the worst type of drug dealer you can think about,'' Assistant State's
Attorney Joseph Ruggiero said.

Harth's mother, Fran, said her son should have received some leniency
because he had no prior felony convictions.

''It's way too much,'' she said. Harth still faces an involuntary
manslaughter charge for allegedly slipping Aeschlimann several PMA tablets
in a glass of water, but DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said
it's possible that charge now will be dropped. That offense carries a
maximum five-year sentence -- less time than Harth already has to serve on
his two drug convictions, Birkett said.