By Tony Gordon 

Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer 

Four people were arrested late Friday night in what authorities are calling the largest seizure of the club drug Ecstasy in Lake County history.

Terry Lemming director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, said more than 3,000 doses of the drug were confiscated from the group’s hotel room in Gurnee.

He said the drugs have a street value of $120,000.

Lemming said Rusty Burgess, 27, of Blacksburg, S.C., and Vichitra Prasongphine, 24, of Kings Mountain, N.C., are charged with drug possession and armed violence after both were caught with loaded handguns.

John Travis Queen, 24, of Kings Mountain, N.C., was charged with drug possession and Kimberly Bridges, 19, of Shelby, N.C., was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, Lemming said.

MEG agents met with Burgess and Queen in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant near Gurnee Mills around 8

p.m. Friday to buy the drug in a sale they had prearranged through phone calls, Lemming said. Both were taken into custody before the transaction was completed, Lemming said, in part because Burgess made it known to the under cover agents be was armed.

Agents then secured a search warrant for their rooms at the Holiday Inn at 6100 Grand Ave., Lemming said, and discovered the drugs in several plastic bags and Prasongphine in possession of another gun.

No Ecstasy was found in Bridges’ room, but a small amount of marijuana was recovered. She was released after posting $50 bond.

 "These pills definitely came from overseas, and we suspect that is how four people from coastal states came to be in our area with them," Lemming said. ‘They can make a lot more money selling them here then they can at home.

Burgess and Prasongphine face mandatory prison sentences of between 15 and 60 years if convicted while Queen faces a term between 12 and 60 years. All three were ordered held on $1 million bond.

By Chris Brenner

STAFF WRITER

April 17, 2001
 

GURNEE — Three suspects charged with possession and intended sale of more than 3,000 hits of the club drug Ecstasy valued at about $120,000 remain in the Lake County Jail on $100,000 bonds, police said.

 They, along with another suspect who is charged with unlawful possession of cannabis, were arrested Friday by agents of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group after an undercover agent allegedly purchased some Ecstasy from two of them at the McDonald's restaurant at 6380 Grand Ave., police said.

 Arrested at McDonald's were Rusty Lee Burgess, 27, of Blacksburg, S.C. and John Queen, 24, of Kings Mountain, N.C.

 Burgess is charged with armed violence, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

 Queen is charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, according to police.

 After the alleged drug sale transaction, a search of the suspects yielded a loaded handgun and a hotel key from a hotel in the 6100 block of Grand Avenue.

 Both men consented to a search of the hotel room where agents found more than 1,500 grams of Ecstasy and another loaded handgun.

 Two women in the hotel room were arrested.

 They are Vichitra Prasongphine, 22, of Kings Mountain, N.C. who is charged with armed violence, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

 Also arrested was Kimberly Bridges, 20, of Shelby, N.C. who was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis. She was released from custody on a personal recognizance bond, police said.

 If convicted on the Class X felonies, Burgess, Queen and Prasongphine all face six to 30 years in prison, police said.

 MEG Director Terry Lemming said the profit is high in selling club drugs and the four suspects were probably in the area because they can get more money for the drug than if they sold it in the Carolinas.

"They wouldn't tell us why they were here," he said.

Ecstasy is known by its chemical name as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).