SERVING MORMONS HASHISH COOKIES BRINGS CONVICTION

MELBOURNE, Australia - A man received a suspended two-month
jail sentence Friday for feeding cookies made with hashish to two
unsuspecting American Mormons.

Alexander McLean, 46, baked around 30 cookies and served some of them
to the two Americans when they visited his house in Melbourne on May
19.

The names of the 19-year-old victims, who were hospitalized after
eating the cookies, were not released by the court.

McLean had pleaded not guilty in Dandenong Magistrates' Court to
charges including recklessly causing serious injury and introducing a
drug into the body of another.

Magistrate Margaret Harding dismissed the most serious charge of
recklessly causing serious injury, but convicted McLean of feeding the
Mormons drugs.

A second man, Douglas Lynch, 40, pleaded guilty to charges of
cultivating, using and possessing cannabis and was fined $290.

McLean said he would appeal his conviction.

On leaving the court, McLean said the Mormons were "nice young guys --
clean cut."

"If they knock on our door again they are quite welcome to come in and
have a cup of coffee and a biscuit," he said.