By DOUG SIMPSON
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A company that leased a building
for dance parties known as raves pleaded guilty
Wednesday to violating federal "crackhouse" laws,
which prohibit people from maintaining a building
where drugs are sold or used.
Interim U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said the case is the
first use of crackhouse laws against operators of
raves, who
prosecutors said promote ecstasy use by selling
pacifiers,
illuminated "glow sticks" and mentholated inhalers.
"I think this is going to have a major effect in this
area and in other areas that have the same sorts of
problems," Letten said. "When gathering places make
drugs available or actively help kids get high and
sometimes overdose, we're going to move in."
Defense lawyer Frank DeSalvo said the plea is part of
an agreement with prosecutors that frees the three
individuals indicted in the case -- Robert Brunet, 37,
of Metairie; his brother, Brian Brunet, 33, of Tampa,
Fla.; and promoter James Estopinal, 32, of New Orleans
-- from facing criminal charges. But the deal named
the men as unindicted co-conspirators and bars them as
a company and as individuals from holding raves where
ecstasy paraphernalia is sold.
The company, Barbecue of New Orleans, Inc., could be
placed on probation and fined up to $100,000 at a
sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge G.
Thomas Porteous on Aug 1.
The three men were indicted before the departure of
U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan. The plea agreement was
reached under Letten, who dropped charges against the
men as individuals last month.
Undercover DEA agents bought about 13 grams of ecstasy
at eight raves in 2000 at the club, said George
Cazenavette, special agent in charge of the DEA's New
Orleans office. He said Estopinal and the Brunets were
never charged with drug sales but were aware that
ecstasy was being sold.
Letten said Wednesday that investigators made the deal
instead of prosecuting the men individually partly
because they would have faced a maximum sentence of
just six months in jail. Under the deal, raves at the
State Palace Theater are now under restrictions that
prosecutors say will keep drug use down and prevent
overdoses.
The plea agreement calls for the company to stop the
distribution and prevent ravers' possession of
drug-enhancing paraphernalia including pacifiers, glow
sticks, vapor rub products, inhalers and dust masks.
The company also must not provide massage tables or
set up so-called "chill rooms," which are purposely
kept 15 degrees cooler than the rest of the theater.
The American Civil Liberties Union calls those
restrictions unconstitutional.
"It's big brother at his worst," said Joe Cook, ACLU
director for Louisiana. "The government here is going
after symbols of the rave culture. They should stick
to enforcing the drug laws and not become culture
cops."
Cook said the ACLU has no role in the case or the
deal. But he said the government cannot ban legal
services like massages or the sale or possession of
legal items such as pacifiers.
Prosecutors and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials
have touted the case as a groundbreaking attempt to
hold rave organizers legally liable for the drug use
that occurs at their events.
Raves are known as hotspots for the use of ecstasy and
other drugs. Investigators have linked the raves held
since 1995 at the Palace in downtown New Orleans to
numerous overdose patients at area emergency rooms and
the 1998 death of a 17-year-old girl.
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The Associated Press
6/13/01 2:31 PM