For the last two years, if police accounts are accurate, Donald Preik lived a double life.

		Police seek information Police ask anyone who knows Donald Preik and who suffered memory lapses or suspects anything untoward to call sex assault detectives at 412-323-7141.

To all who knew him, he was a pleasant man who managed a Rite Aid drugstore, bought nice presents for his longtime, live-in girlfriend, and tooled around for fun on boats and snowmobiles.

However, Preik had other, more disquieting hobbies that leaned toward the perverse and criminal, according to Pittsburgh police.

Detectives arrested the 46-year-old Beechview man Tuesday on charges that he drugged five women during the last two years, and then took pictures of them while they were unconscious, sometimes with objects protruding from their genitalia.

"I've seen quite a bit, and this is right up in the top 10," police Cmdr. Maurita Bryant said yesterday.

Bryant declined to release any information about the victims, other than to say they were all known to Preik. However, the exact nature of their relationship is what makes the 31 sexual assault charges filed against Preik so shocking.

The victims, who range in age from 20 to 67, are all related to one another and to Preik's girlfriend. At least two of them live in Preik's home.

None of them were aware of the photography sessions until several days ago when one of the women stumbled across an album in the basement of Preik's home containing 75 photographs. The album was broken up into different sections, each marked by a divider with the individual's name.

"It almost seems like it might have been mistakenly left out," Bryant said.

The woman, according to Bryant, was stunned to see pictures of herself and the other women naked. She kept quiet for several days and then confided in another family member, who called police late Tuesday afternoon.

Sex assault detectives Matthew Cornwall, Charles Hanlon and Joseph Ryczaj worked through the night on the case.

"He's been in our family for 18 years, and nobody had any idea," a relative of the women said yesterday. "He was always a hard worker, good to other members of my family. He doesn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't do drugs. He was a very upstanding guy. Not no more."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify accusers or alleged victims of sexual assaults.

Bryant said investigators believe Preik stole narcotics from the pharmacy of the North Fayette Rite Aid where he worked, then slipped the drug into the women's drinks.

Lt. Jeffrey Falconer, of the North Fayette police department, said he contacted Allegheny County Police after being alerted by Pittsburgh detectives of a possible theft of narcotics from the Rite Aid.

"I believe the defendant made statements to that effect, that he had stolen narcotics from the Rite Aid," Falconer said.

Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt confirmed that county detectives were working with North Fayette police on the possible drug theft.

Bryant said the drug used to incapacitate the women was triazolam. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Web site, triazolam is a depressant used to induce sleep. Depending on the dose, it can act as a hypnotic, a tension reliever or a sedative.

Triazolam is sold under the brand name Halcion.

Rohypnol, an illegally manufactured narcotic commonly referred to as a "date rape" drug, belongs to the same family of drugs as triazolam. Victims cannot resist sexual assault and frequently do not remember what happened to them, according to the DEA.

Police believe Preik hid the drug in a bottle of contact lens cleaner. It was retrieved from the garbage when police searched the house after Preik's girlfriend threw it out because it was expired, the family member said.

Bryant said Preik spiked beverages with the drug.

"It was just slipped in there when they weren't aware," Bryant said. "They had no idea of what had been occurring. They were totally shocked."

Apparently the drugging produced no side effects or grogginess, both police and the family member said.

In the pictures, the women appeared to be asleep or unconscious. Their garments were arranged to expose their private parts. In some pictures, words were written on the victims' bodies, possibly with some type of marker that could be washed off, Bryant said.

Among the words were "whore" and "sex slave."

Inside the album, police also found pictures of five other women in what Bryant termed "sensual" poses, in negligees or partially clad in swimsuits. Detectives believe Preik made copies of the pictures after they were developed through his store.

Police do not know who the other five women are and are unsure whether they had any direct contact with Preik.

Rite Aid spokeswoman Jody Cook said the store does not process photographs on premises but sends them to a third-party developer, which she could not identify.

Cook said Rite Aid fired Preik as soon as the Camp Hill-based company learned of his arrest. The chain is conducting an internal investigation.

In addition to the photos in the album, police searching Preik's house found an envelope's worth of loose pictures hidden in various places, Bryant said. It is not yet known who is depicted in those photos.

Detectives also confiscated two computers, cameras, a camcorder and VHS tapes. Police are sorting through the material.

Preik was arraigned yesterday in Night Court on 10 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of aggravated indecent assault and 19 counts of indecent assault. He was held on a $25,000 straight bond. Preik was ordered to undergo a behavioral clinic evaluation.

A preliminary hearing was set for April 8 in City Court.

"He needs to pay," the family member of the women said. "I can't believe my family has been violated this way. It's very disturbing."