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Feds bust massive ecstasy ring

David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Sherri Strange, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, announced Friday that Ben Vasseghi, 30, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced late Thursday by United States District Judge Thomas W. Thrash on two counts of conspiring to import and distribute ecstasy, four counts of importation of ecstasy, and one count of attempted importation of ecstasy. According to Nahmias and the documents and information presented in court:

• Vasseghi was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.

• Vasseghi was indicted on the charges Dec. 3, 2002, and pleaded guilty to the charges July 10, 2004. Vasseghi was convicted as a high-level member of one of the largest ecstasy importation and distribution organizations in the Southeastern United States, the investigation of which was code named "Operation X-Men" by federal authorities. According to the evidence, Vasseghi is one of 19 defendants charged with importing ecstasy tablets from Amsterdam and distributing them in Atlanta beginning in 1998 and ending in 2002. Another 16 defendants have been convicted in the "Operation X-Men" case.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Thrash found that Vasseghi's organization imported and distributed more than 1.5 million ecstasy tablets. The evidence showed the ecstasy tablets initially were smuggled into the United States from Amsterdam by "body-couriers," who strapped vacuum-sealed bags of tablets to their bodies on international flights.

After several couriers were arrested arriving in the United States, the organization used Russian shipping contacts to import the tablets into Canada. Couriers would then drive the tablets to Atlanta hidden in spare tire compartments and gasoline tanks, court records show. In January 2000, one of these couriers was arrested in Florida, leading to the seizure of 24 kilograms of ecstasy tablets in the attic of a "stash house" in Brossard, Canada. The street value of the seized pills alone is approximately $2 million.

Court documents show that after the organization imported ecstasy tablets into Atlanta, the tablets then were repackaged and handed off to a network of middle-level distributors, some of whom have been charged and sentenced in the case.

The evidence showed that the organization benefitted from a surge in the popularity of ecstasy among club-going young adults in the late 1990s. The surge in ecstasy use coincided with a growth in the popularity of rave parties and dance clubs in Atlanta and across the United States. Prosecutors have estimated that this organization made $12 million in profits during the years it operated.

Judge Thrash earlier sentenced another leader of the ecstasy organization, Ronnie Loggins, 36, of Riverdale to 20 years in prison. The lead defendant in the case, Ashley House, 35, of Kennesaw, is scheduled to be sentenced June 27, along with several remaining defendants. Jerry Haywood, 35, of Acworth, who had been free on bond, fled several days before he was to be sentenced May 17 and remains a fugitive. Another defendant, Cammron von Odom, 35, from Opp, Ala., is also being sought as a fugitive, and another charged defendant in the "Operation X-Men" case, Marco Olyves, 39, from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a Dutch citizen awaiting extradition from India to face the charges in Atlanta.

Other defendants already sentenced in the case include: Jeffrey Stone, 37, of Riverdale, 17 years, 6 months in prison; John Dunlap, 33, Georgia, 12 years, 7 months in prison; Kel Munroe, 38, of Fayetteville, 8 years, 1 month in prison; Sal DeAngelo, 41, Atlanta, 7 years, 3 months in prison; Brent Bressner, 29, of Powder Springs, 6 years in prison; Phillip Edwards, 33, of Atlanta, 5 years, 10 months in prison; Rafael Ibragimov, 32, of Atlanta, 4 years, 4 months in prison; Chuck McMurtry, 36, of Baldwin, 3 years, 1 month in prison; Brant Conley, 33, of Marietta, 3 years, 1 month in prison; and John Turner, 29, of Atlanta, 2 years, 6 months in prison.

There is no parole in the federal system.

"This case is a prime example of a group of drug dealers who preyed on a particularly vulnerable group, that is, high school and college students and young people who do not appreciate how truly dangerous club drugs like ecstasy can be," said Nahmias.

The case is being investigated through a joint effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; Henry County Sheriff's Department; Henry County Police; Marietta-Cobb-Smyrna Drug Task Force, and the Doraville Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney John Horn is prosecuting the case.