
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991                   TAG: 9103220701
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

UVA FRATERNITY HOUSES SEIZED

Federal and local authorities Thursday night seized three fraternity houses at the University of Virginia following a six-month undercover investigation into drug sales near the school.

Eight UVa students were named in federal indictments, which were sealed until the students' arrests. Charlottesville Police Chief John deKoven Bowen said another four students were charged under state statutes.

In Roanoke, U.S. Attorney E. Montgomery Tucker said the U.S. marshal's office will take control of the fraternity houses until a judge can rule whether they should be forfeited to the federal government.

The fraternities involved are Delta Upsilon, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Phi Epsilon Pi.

All the alleged drug transactions took place within 1,000 feet of the university, effectively doubling the maximum prison term in the event of a conviction, Tucker said.

The indictments allege that the students sold a variety of drugs to an undercover police officer.

Students not directly implicated in the illegal activity may be permitted to stay in the houses until the end of the school year if the courts approve and if no other illegal activity is detected, Tucker said.

Police Chief Bowen said the joint federal-local drug task force was seeking two other university students on drug-related charges.

Bowen said he sent a letter in August to all fraternities warning them of drug use. The chief said the fraternities were warned that if alleged drug use continued, the fraternity property could be seized.

More than 40 state, local and federal officers launched the raids at 8:45 p.m. along Fraternity Row. Alumni groups own the university's 16 fraternity houses.

Those named in the federal indictments, the fraternity, the types of offenses alleged and the number of counts were:

Mark Croy, 22, selling marijuana and LSD, four counts.

Matt Evans, 19, Phi Epsilon Pi, selling marijuana and LSD, four counts.

David Freelund, 21, selling marijuana, two counts.

James Graham, 21, Tau Kappa Epsilon, selling LSD, one count.

Eric Heller, 21, Delta Upsilon, selling marijuana, one count.

Ernest Pryor, 19, Phi Epsilon Pi, selling marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms, two counts.

Andrew Bryan Schwaab, 21, Delta Upsilon, selling LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana and a synthetic designer hallucinogenic, four counts.

Peter Shaffer, Delta Upsilon, selling marijuana, one count.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.

by CNB