Club cited for drug sales

By David Enders

Daily Staff Reporter

Washtenaw County narcotics investigators yesterday continued to serve 13 warrants issued this week in connection with alleged sales of the drug ecstasy at the Nectarine Ballroom, a popular Ann Arbor dance club.

Responding to patron concerns that the dealers had been selling the drug at the club, undercover officers purchased an undisclosed amount of ecstasy over a six-month period.

The police officers participated in "individual buys in the bar from individual dealers," said Sgt. Lyle Sartori, who works for the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team (LAWNET).

AAPD Sgt. Michael Logghe said officers served one warrant to an Ann Arbor resident. Metro Detroit residents received the remaining 12. None appear to be students. The club is open five nights a week, and minors are allowed in with identification.

"We had gotten complaints that there were open dealings going on in the Nectarine," Sartori said. Saturday morning LAWNET made the first two arrests inside the club, located at 510 E. Liberty St.

A designer drug hybrid of mescaline and amphetamine, ecstasy is known chemically as MDMA. Users say it loosens inhibitions and makes people more relaxed. Some European countries used ecstasy in psychotherapy cases until being banned in 1986.

Sartori said the drug is associated commonly with "rave" and "dance" scenes, a description that fits the club.

"You probably just about could go into any bar and if you sat there long enough you could buy any drug," he said. "Why is it unique to the Nectarine? I don't know."

"It appears to be on the rise," Sartori said. "We're running into more and more late teens to early 20-year-olds who are experimenting with it. That is in correlation to the national average."

Club owner Michael Bender said he was unaware of the sale of ecstasy in his establishment.

"I'm trying to help out as much as possible - it was a shock to me," Bender said.

He also said his club tries to prevent such activity, but that it is not easy.

"If we catch anyone who is even closely related to sale or possession, we would remove them," he said. He could not comment on whether anyone had ever been removed from the bar because of such a problem. Two people overdosed on the drug gamma hydroxy butyrate last September.

"Unless we could do strip searches, the best we can do is keep our eyes open," he said. Bender said that on an average night, his club provides one bouncer for 70 to 80 people.

Officers purchased the pills for $30 to $35 dollars. All were from street-level dealers, Sartori said.

The AAPD is running a parallel investigation into possible direct connection between drug activity and the Nectarine, Sartori said. The investigation also included a check into liquor law violations. Bender said he received no citations for liquor violations.

BRAD QUINN/Daily

Police worked undercover for six months at the Nectarine Ballroom, a popular downtown dance club, to build arrest cases against alleged dealers of ecstasy.