6 GET PRISON TERMS IN ECSTASY CASE

Six men were sentenced to terms ranging from two to nearly six years in
prison for their roles in the distribution of the drug ecstasy on the
UW-Madison campus.

Three of the men, Ashkan Farhadieh, 22; Ghassan Majdalani, 22; and Matthew
Louie, 23, were UW-Madison students on the verge of graduation when they
were arrested in April for distributing the drug, a hallucinogen that is
sometimes called "the hug drug." The group sold about 116,000 pills.

At six back-to-back sentencing hearings Friday before U.S. District Judge
Barbara Crabb, the message from the prosecutor, judge, defense attorneys
and the defendants themselves was clear: Get caught selling ecstasy and you
will go to prison.

"(Young people) have no sense of the penalties that apply in federal
court," said Michael Fitzgerald, Farhadieh's lawyer. "This is a clarion
wake-up call to all young people."

Farhadieh was sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison. His brother, Paymon
Farhadieh, 24, received a two-year sentence. Majdalani will serve just over
three years in prison, while Louie received a five-year, three-month sentence.

The chief supplier for the ring, Augusto Rodriguez, 25, of Miami, received
a four-year, three-month sentence, while Steven Larson, 26, of Los Angeles,
who acted as a middle-man, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison.

All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole. While
judges have some discretion in sentencing, standardized guidelines
generally dictate federal penalties.

But just as much as the penalties, those involved in the case also preached
about the dangers of using the drug and its popularity on college campuses.
Crabb noted that a Madison high school student died in 2000 from an ecstasy
overdose.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea said studies have found that use of
ecstasy can permanently alter cognitive abilities and memory.

"The terrible irony is that people come to the university to get smarter,"
O'Shea said.

Crabb said she sees hope for redemption in each man - their achievements at
school and their strong families - all of whom were in court Friday - give
them a chance to learn from their mistakes and succeed after release from
prison.

The arrest of Penn State University graduate Paymon Farhadieh in April 2002
came while he was working long hours for J.P. Morgan in New York City, nine
months after he had given up involvement in any drug-related activity, said
his attorney, Stephen Mayer.

"Here's a guy who a year ago is living in New York, up and coming. This
week he's laying on a quarter-inch mattress (in jail) thinking how did I
get here?" Mayer said.

Larson, a telecommunications graduate from Penn State, was working for the
Walt Disney Co. in Los Angeles when he was arrested, said his attorney,
Richard Jacobson.