By Tony Gordon

Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer

May 10, 2001

Lake County officials believe Sean Kucharski's problems are the result of something he ate. His troubles come in the form of a grand jury indictment issued Wednesday charging the 29-year-old Crystal Lake man with drug trafficking and possession of a controlled substance.

What Kucharski ate was 241 small balloons filled with Ecstasy pills, which were surgically removed from his system as a police officer watched in the operating room.

The pills are an illegal, but nonetheless popular, drug among teens on the club scene.

Assistant State's Attorney Mathew Chancey said Kucharski, of 395 Poplar St., was arrested April 26 on the charges, which carry a mandatory prison sentence of between six and 30 years if convicted of the charges and is presently free on $25,000 bond. Mark Piccoli, deputy director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, said Kucharski traveled to Amsterdam, Holland, in March and bought the drugs.

He loaded between 800 and 900 of the pills, each of which are slightly smaller than an aspirin, into the balloons and swallowed them before returning to this area in late March, police said. The balloons became lodged in Kucharski's colon, Piccoli said, and he became ill when he could not expel them from his body.

"The drugs weighed about a pound and it is our understanding that he was in some severe pain," Piccoli said. "About the same time, we received confidential information about what may be happening with him and started an investigation."

Kucharski was taken to Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington at about 5 a.m. on March 29, and Piccoli said MEG agents arrived at the hospital about five hours later.

The agents were told that Kucharski was not responding to the laxatives he had been given, and if the blockage did not leave his body naturally it would have to be surgically removed because his blood pressure was dropping.

"We basically said that we wanted whatever it was that was in there," Piccoli said. "And after consultations between the Lake County state's attorney's office and attorneys for the hospital, a search warrant for the operating room was drafted and approved by a judge."

Piccoli said the search warrant allowed MEG Agent Tim Gretz, scrubbed and dressed in surgical garb, to stand next to Dr. Gia Compagnoni during the operation that removed the balloons from Kucharski's system.

"We have to insure that the chain of custody of the evidence is pure and unbroken," Piccoli said. "So Tim went into the operating room, was there when the drugs came out and will be prepared to testify to that in court."

Piccoli said police allowed Kucharski a reasonable amount of time to recover from the surgery before taking him into custody. He posted 10 percent of a $250,000 bond to gain his release from the Lake County jail.

A spokeswoman for Good Shepherd said neither the hospital nor Compagnoni would comment on the case. Kucharski, who is scheduled to be arraigned May 16 before Circuit Judge Raymond McKoski, could not be reached for comment.

Piccoli said the drugs have a street value of $45,000 and the case is another example of the growing popularity of Ecstasy.

"It is frightening to see that someone would go to this length -- actually putting his life at risk -- to bring this stuff into the country," Piccoli said. "Not only could he have developed serious medical problems from what actually happened, if one of those balloons had broken open inside of him it could have been disastrous."

Surgery: Agent present to collect evidence.

By Chris Brenner

A Cary man and a McHenry woman became violently ill and were hospitalized after swallowing hundreds of balloons containing the drug Ecstasy in Amsterdam, Netherlands, police said Wednesday.

Sean Kucharski, 28, of Cary is being held in the Lake County Jail, and Charlotte Cox, 42, of McHenry is in the McHenry County Jail, according to Sgt. Michael Myhre of the North Central Narcotics Task Force in Algonquin.

The investigation and subsequent arrests were made last month by the narcotics force and the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Myhre said.

Kucharski is accused of swallowing 231 balloons containing 1,155 Ecstasy pills, a designer drug, while Cox is accused of swallowing 96 balloons with 545 Ecstasy pills, Myhre said.

Both became ill March 28 at Cox's residence in the 500 block of Mineral Springs Road, Myhre said.

Cox was admitted to Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry and Kucharski to Good Shepherd Hospital in Lake Barrington.

Myhre said medical personnel at the McHenry hospital notified McHenry police of the drugs, and that agency notified the North Central and MEG groups.

Cox and Kucharski were hospitalized for about 10 days, he said.

Both suspects were charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, criminal drug conspiracy, unlawful controlled substance trafficking and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Formal charges were made on April 20, Myhre said.