TEEN DIED AT CAFE; MISSISSAUGA MAN CHARGED IN TO ECSTASY DEATH

MISSISSAUGA -- A Mississauga man acting as manager of a Toronto Internet
cafe where a teen girl died Saturday has been charged in connection with
her death.

Johnrex Bernandino, 29, of Gatineau Ave., has been charged with criminal
negligence causing death and trafficking in a controlled substance.

Bernandino was the acting manager of the Alphalounge on Bloor St. W. near
Bathurst St. where Nicole Malik, 17, collapsed on a couch and was found
Dec. 1 by a customer.

Toronto police suspect she took two "hits" of the illegal drug ecstasy
prior to her death. Detective Daryle Gerry said she was dead before an
ambulance arrived.

Also charged with criminal negligence causing death was Paul Busch, 19, of
Toronto, also an employee at the 24-hour cafe.

Gerry said Malik, who had recently moved to Toronto from the Barrie area to
live with her brother, was friends with Busch and an acquaintance of
Bernandino's. Police allege the ecstasy Malik took was made available at
the cafe.

Brian Lee, owner of Alphalounge, said he asked his "good friend"
Bernandino, who lives with his family in the Eglinton Ave. and Central
Pkwy. area, to manage the cafe while he took a month's vacation to visit Korea.

"I knew his (Bernandino's) family, I knew his nieces and I trusted him,"
Lee said in a phone interview yesterday. "He wasn't working. He was going
through a hard time, so I thought I'd help him out. He seemed to have good
management skills."

Lee said both men were "released" before charges were laid.

A notice now placed near the cafe entrance warned that "any member caught
in possession of narcotics will be permanently banned from entering,"
adding the establishment is a drug-free environment.

Gerry said an ambulance should have been provided earlier for the teenager.

A friend of Malik, who didn't want her name used, said the honour roll
student didn't use drugs before the weekend tragedy.

Gerry indicated police are confident that she's relatively new to the drug.

Known as a designer drug, ecstasy usually appears in the form of tablets.
It's a hallucinogen that produces a strong sense of pleasure and feelings
of euphoria, but can be fatal since it causes severe dehydration and can
prohibit the body's ability to regulate body temperature.

Drug test results from Malik's death are not expected for several weeks.