A Mardi Gras trip ended early for two DeKalb residents, including one NIU student, when they were charged last Friday with possessing powder cocaine and ecstasy with intent to deliver.

Carlo A. Savoca, 25, of 930 Greenbrier Road No. 11 and William Enzenbacher, 23, of 1044 Regent Drive No. 19 were arrested while traveling east on Interstate 88 with friends in a recreational vehicle. Illinois State Police had stopped the vehicle for speeding.

Further investigation resulted in a call to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department’s canine patrol. An eventual search of luggage reportedly yielded the drugs, which included less than 50 grams of ecstasy, said Master Sgt. Katie Griffith of the North Central Narcotics Task Force.

The two men were taken to the DeKalb Count y Jail and held for a bond hearing Saturday. Enzenbacher, a pre-communication major, was released on $25,000 bond. Savoca remains in custody on $250,000 bond &a significantly higher amount because he was still was out on bond for a May 1999 indictment on charges of criminal drug conspiracy, delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Those charges were from a previous task force investigation that alleged Savoca supplied a large amount of ecstacy to an NIU student.

“These were two totally separate cases,” Griffith said. “But it did not surprise us that he was involved in this.”

The number of pills found in the I-88 search was undetermined. The charges are Class 1 felonies.

Griffith said legislation is in the works to decrease the amount of ecstacy needed to warrant tougher charges.

“The use and seizure of club drugs are skyrocketing,” Griffith said. “And the word on the street from the users and dealers is that it’s everywhere. And that’s all we can go on.”