ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997 TAG: 9703270066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE THE ROANOKE TIMES
It was an emotional scene when eight defendants - many of them young people from good homes - were sentenced to prison time.
Onlookers in a Roanoke federal courtroom reeled Wednesday as their children and friends were led away by deputy marshals after being sentenced for dealing "designer" drugs and cocaine.
No one in a group of mostly young people who dealt cocaine for Eric McCoy or sold other drugs at rave parties in the Roanoke area escaped prison time.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser said he was troubled to see so many kids from loving homes choosing to get into drug dealing for fun.
"The sense I've gotten throughout this entire case with these young people is it was almost like on a lark," he said before sentencing the last defendant in an all-day series of hearings that lasted until 6 p.m. "They were having a good time, and the consequences be darned."
The consequences in federal court for drug dealing can be harsh, and the eight defendants were sentenced to between one year and nearly eight years in prison. Some were saved from mandatory five- or 10-year sentences only because they cooperated with federal agents and turned in their friends.
The case is federal prosecutors' first involving the Roanoke rave scene. Raves are youthful all-night dance parties, often marked by the presence of hallucinogenic drugs and stimulants.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Giorno said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's involvement "indicates no one is immune from prosecution. There's no such thing as good drug dealing and bad drug dealing."
For McCoy, selling stimulants and psychedelic drugs appeared - at least at first - to be a way to turn his friends on to substances he believed were beneficial.
"I showed something to people they've never seen before. I gave them an opportunity to try something," he said in a 1995 interview. "I've never done anything to intentionally hurt or incriminate anyone."
Then, he found out dealing was an easy money maker. During the December hearing at which he pleaded guilty, he testified he sometimes made more than $40,000 a month from his cocaine sales. He sold Ecstasy, LSD, marijuana and methamphetamine as well.
McCoy, who will turn 22 on Sunday, received a sentence of 80 months. With credit for good time, he probably will serve a little more than five and a half years, 85 percent of his sentence.
McCoy testified that although he supplied Ecstasy to ravers, most of the defendants had little to do with the rave scene.
For most of the other defendants, selling drugs seemed to be a way to support their own drug habits or to be part of a fun crowd.
Eric Halprin, a 23-year-old graduate student, continued to organize raves even after he was arrested last summer and ordered to stay away from the parties.
"My life has just always been carefree. I guess I still just wanted to have that life even though I wasn't involved in drugs," he told Kiser. But now, "I destroyed my life. I had all the opportunities in the world. I've totally let my family down."
He received a three-year sentence, which his attorney said he was "very pleased" with.
Bethany Hoops' family testified about how the death of her father several years ago deeply affected her, saying she grew angry and withdrew from her family. Her mother and sisters said they tried family counseling and placed her in a drug treatment program when she was in high school. But Hoops, now 19, refused to continue the treatment.
A high school English teacher who testified on Hoops' behalf told the judge, "I've been a teacher for 20 years. I think the motto of that age is, 'It seemed like a good idea at the time.'''
Hoops was convicted of conspiracy for twice driving to Virginia Beach to pick up cocaine for McCoy, her high school boyfriend.
"I see young people your age who come from much more impoverished emotional circumstances, much more impoverished financial circumstances, and [their criminal activity] is somewhat explainable," Kiser said. "I have to put your case in context."
Now a college student in New York City, Hoops will be unable to finish the semester. She broke down when Kiser sentenced her to 12 months in prison and said she had to be taken into custody immediately.
Also sentenced Wednesday were Thomas Brock Frederick, 23, of Virginia Beach, who supplied McCoy with cocaine, 80 months; Stephen Crouch, 21, of Salem, who sold cocaine and LSD, 18 months; Travis Entsminger, 20, of Roanoke, who sold cocaine, 67 months; his father, Ronald Entsminger, 51, who sold cocaine and methamphetamine, 37 months; and Jason Murdock, 20, of Roanoke, who sold cocaine, 13 months.
The sentences vary because of a number of factors, including the amount of drugs involved and whether the defendant cooperated with the government.
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