ECSTASY CRACKDOWN NETS 8 SUSPECTS IN TWO RINGS

NORFOLK -- In the region's first major crackdown on Ecstasy, eight people
have been charged with selling $200,000 worth of the tablets, mostly at
clubs where the drug is used by some partyers dancing to the thumping beats
of techno and rap music.

One suspect -- a United Parcel Service Inc. employee -- runs a production
company that schedules rave parties, including one tonight at a Virginia
Beach club.

He and two accomplices are accused in a 12-count federal indictment
unsealed Thursday of also using and dealing steroids, cocaine, marijuana
and GHB, known as the date-rape drug.

The drugs apparently were brought in from New York and Mexico.

The eight suspects face charges stemming from two separate investigations,
led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"We have seen an increase in seizures of MDMA," said Dennis Bolum, resident
agent in charge of the local DEA office. MDMA is Ecstasy's chemical
abbreviation. "We're dealing in larger quantities."

Most drug sales occurred at bars and clubs, but at least one occurred near
a Beach middle school, according to court records.

The sales occurred at Wide Open on Shore Drive, Fat Daddy's and the Beach
House (formerly Rogue's) at the Oceanfront, and the NorVa in Norfolk,
records say. The Beach House is holding tonight's rave.

Tim Paul Douros, 38, of the 2600 block of Bracston Road in the Foxfire
neighborhood of Virginia Beach, is accused of leading one ring. He is
charged with conspiracy to distribute Ecstasy and three related charges.
Douros, the UPS worker and rave promoter, supplied Ecstasy and other drugs
to accomplices and club-goers, according to court records.

Charles Atilla Bacs, 31, and Daniel Heath Hansen, 27, are charged with the
same conspiracy. Hansen faces 12 counts alleging a number of sales the
others weren't accused of joining, and Bacs faces three counts. All three
will be in U.S. District Court on Tuesday for a hearing.

The indictment is based on the reports of a number of confidential
informants and undercover police officers who have been investigating
Douros since May 1998, when he was arrested by Beach police on marijuana
possession charges. The outcome of that arrest was not clear Thursday.

One informant told authorities that Douros was storing and selling cocaine
from a UPS building on Air Rail Avenue in Virginia Beach. The same
informant said Douros began selling Ecstasy shortly after his 1998 arrest.

At about that time, Douros started a production company called Planet X
that held rave parties at various clubs and at his home.

Raves are elaborate, late-night dance parties featuring disc jockeys,
strobe and laser lighting and electronic, fast-paced music with pounding
bass beats.

"The mixture of the music and light effects have a euphoric effect when
Ecstasy is used," according to court records filed in the case.

Douros teamed up with another man, who has not been charged, to start a new
production company, TMX Entertainment, to promote and sponsor raves. Each
partner would earn $2,500 for each rave, but Douros would add hundreds or
thousands of dollars on top of that through his drug sales, the indictment
said.

Douros is accused of using "runners" to distribute the drug at the raves he
produced, according to the indictment. Informants and undercover officers
would see Douros with 100 to 500 Ecstasy tablets at a time, the court
records say.

The indictment lists at least 12 sales involving 50 to 500 Ecstasy tablets
for $900 to $6,000, respectively. The pills, sometimes called "Mollies,"
initially sell for $8 to $12 each. But they are sold to individuals in
clubs and on the street for $25 or more, records show.

Douros used proceeds to buy a truck, a Corvette, a Mazda Protege, a Toyota
Celica, a boat he called "X Star" and stocks, according to a search warrant
filed in federal court Wednesday.

DEA agents searched Douros' home Tuesday and seized prescription drugs and
unidentified pills, smoking devices, computers, rave advertisements and
other items.

Ecstasy arrests have been on the rise locally and nationally in recent
years. In the past, individuals had been arrested for transporting the
drug. In one case, a man was charged with bringing 2,100 pills across the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

But this is the first time authorities have infiltrated a number of rave
clubs and charged a party producer with supplying the drug to his customers.

A. William "Bill" Reid, whose company owns the NorVa, said he has never
heard of Douros and has stopped allowing outsiders to rent his club for
raves. Owners of other clubs listed in the indictment could not be reached
Thursday.

In the second case, five suspects have been charged with dealing nearly
10,000 Ecstasy tablets.

Charles L. Cartledge IV, 23; Timothy J. Edenburn, 23; Johnathan L. Wright
Jr., 18; Stanley L. Gibson, 25, all of Virginia Beach; and Nicole S.
Woolery, 20, of Knotts Island, N.C., were arrested in the past week on
federal drug conspiracy charges.

Each suspect is accused of selling hundreds of Ecstasy pills at a time
since October. One case involved 1,000 pills. Those sales generally
occurred in strip-mall parking lots, according to court records.

Cartledge told Virginia Beach police that he sold 7,000 Ecstasy pills in a
three-month period, according to court records.

All of the suspects are in jail pending court dates.