Nearly 100 students busted in SDSU drug sting

College drug sting snags justice, security majors, scores of others

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- About 100 people, including students majoring in homeland security and criminal justice, were arrested Tuesday in an undercover drug sting at San Diego State University, officials said.

Among those arrested, 75 were students, one of them a criminal justice major charged with possession of guns and cocaine, authorities said. One student allegedly dealing cocaine was a month short of obtaining a master's degree in homeland security at the California school and worked under campus police as a student community service officer.

Campus police initiated the investigation about a year ago, after a student's fatal overdose in May 2007, said university President Steve Weber. About five months ago, as the investigation evolved, campus police sought and received help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

There was a second overdose death in February at a fraternity house.

"If proven guilty, these individuals have preyed on students and have ruined hundreds of lives," Weber told reporters. In addition to facing criminal charges, the students have been suspended from school and evicted from campus housing, he said.

Twenty-one people who are not students were arrested recently on a variety of drug charges, officials said.
Damon Mosler, chief of the narcotics division for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, was surprised by what he described as the dealers' openness about what they were doing.

"They weren't picky about who they sold to," he said, alleging that undercover officers would simply call them and say, " 'Hey, I heard you deal. Will you sell to me?' "And they did."

Officials say the evidence seized as part of Operation Sudden Fall includes four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana and 350 ecstasy pills. Authorities also took one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols and $60,000.

In all, authorities confiscated more than $100,000 worth of drugs, Mosler said. Bags of marijuana weighing four or five pounds would sell for $4,000 to $5,000, he said, and a kilogram of cocaine would sell for about $17,000.
Before going to Las Vegas for the weekend, fraternity members involved in the sale of drugs sent text messages to their customers, saying, "We're going to close out our inventory," and inviting them to "buy the cocaine at discounted prices," Mosler said.

After the weekend, they sent another text message saying they were back and ready to do business, Mosler said.

Search warrants were carried out last week on suspects' houses off campus, and search warrants were served Tuesday at on-campus housing.

Mosler described the students as "mid-level distributors" who were selling more than a person might buy for personal use.

He identified Phi Kappa Psi and Theta Chi as the two fraternities involved. In the latter case, firearms were found in the house, he said.

The firearms included semiautomatic 9 mm or .40-caliber handguns and a rifle, Mosler said.

He said the students face charges that include possession for sale and sale of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana.

DEA agents infiltrated several student drug distribution cells and made more than 130 drug purchases and seizures, a news release said.

Authorities said they infiltrated seven campus fraternities and found that in some, most of the students were aware of drug dealing by fraternity brothers.


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http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/06/...l?iref=topnews

this is not surprising to me at all. a very large number of drug dealers nowadays are upper-middle class to upper class college students....the media makes it sound a lot worse than it really is though, no one "preyed" on anyone, that isn't how it works

sucks to be these guys. they had NO reason to do what they were doing

Not knowing how large the campus is I was surprised at the number arrested. In addition, I find it particularly amusing that someone with a masters in Homeland Security was also taken in. That just proves to me what a joke that made up organization is. Since when is Homeland Security a major?

probably a good thing they got caught though. they obviously are not very smart

yup. i've seen what coke does to people and would feel like 8 pounds of donkey shit if i contributed to that

Schools and colleges are not safe anymore!! We must work to ban these places as it's obvious that they kill people just like guns, make them do drugs and sell weapons. All under the guise of "education"!! Education kills!!

BAN ALL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES FOR OUR KID'S SAFETY!!

you could do that, or you could just lock up the people selling the drugs. i find that more effective, though since national averages suggest kids nowadays aren't learning anyway, there probably wouldn't be much harm in banning schools and colleges.

Cool, glad these people were discovered early in the game, before they embarrass themselves later in life after duping their way into better paying jobs. They had their chance. I'm not against the experimenter's per se, everyone should have a weak moment to experiment, but the one's that are just hustling a buck, trafficking/dealing to pay for their pathetic habits, let them ruin their lives, not someone else's.

Isn't college the period where most people experiment with drugs? Why ruin these kids lives for some weed, pills, and yay?

I'm just saying, some coke heads have made it really far in life after the CSA came into being... some even as far as two terms in an executive office...

Without the risk of getting your life ruined, dealing wouldn't be lucrative for those willing to do it. These guys should have left it to people with less to lose.

I take issue with the claim that they have "ruined hundreds of lives". That's pretty obtuse.

sorry, i can't see a pillpopper functioning very well in the work-force. i forsee fork-lift accidents, shift-truancy, a poorly drawn out war in iraq, and missing office supplies. PS my friend here wants to know what the CSA is, an act of some sort??

wow what a bunch of idiots! they shouldn't even be dealing in the first place. i honestly think if they are going to deal, they should know how to be smarter about it instead of just selling to whoever. ugh, stupid people annoy me!

someone had to fill that niche in the market.

Yes, I believe a crack head could lead a country into a quagmire, but I'm not totally convinced....

Controlled Substances Act. It created a list of substances that are addictive, narcotic, otherwise dangerous to society and they are banned from use, sale, possession other than medically or for experiments. Every few years they add a new one to the list - like G and MDMA are relatively new, you used to be able to find this shit in health food stores.