75 Students Nabbed In Campus Drug Bust

Feds Make Wave Of Arrests At San Diego State University; Cocaine, Cash, Guns Seized

(AP)  Dozens of San Diego State University students were arrested after a sweeping drug investigation found that some fraternity members openly dealt drugs and one even sent a mass text message advertising cocaine, authorities said Tuesday.

Two kilograms of cocaine were seized, along with 350 Ecstasy pills, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, illicit prescription drugs, several guns and at least $60,000 in cash, authorities said.

Of the 96 people arrested, 75 were students. Eighteen of the students were arrested Tuesday when nine search warrants were executed at various locations including fraternities, said Jesse Rodriguez, San Diego County assistant district attorney.

The undercover probe, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall, was sparked by the cocaine overdose death of a student in May 2007, authorities said. As the investigation continued, another student, from Mesa College, died Feb. 26 of a cocaine overdose at an SDSU fraternity house, the DEA said.

Those arrested included a student who was about to receive a criminal justice degree and another who was to receive a master's degree in homeland security.

"A sad commentary is that when one of these individuals was arrested, they inquired as (to) whether or not his arrest and incarceration would have an effect on him becoming a federal law enforcement officer," said Ralph Partridge, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

Some defendants were scheduled to appear in state court to face charges Tuesday.

During the probe investigators discovered that in some fraternities most members were aware of "organized drug dealing occurring from the fraternity houses by its members," the DEA said in a news release.

"Undercover agents purchased cocaine from fraternity members and confirmed that a hierarchy existed for the purpose of selling drugs for money," the DEA said.

The district attorney's office said search warrants were served in San Diego and suburban La Mesa, including the Theta Chi fraternity house and several apartments.

A member of Theta Chi sent out a mass text message to his "faithful customers" stating that he and his "associates" would be unable to sell cocaine while they were in Las Vegas over one weekend, according to the DEA. The text promoted a cocaine "sale" and listed the reduced prices.

Theta Chi's San Diego chapter declined to comment.

"We're talking to our advisers," said John Phillips, a past president of the chapter.

Dale Taylor, the fraternity's national executive director, said he was "obviously shocked and saddened" by the allegations.

Theta Chi has prohibited the San Diego chapter from group activities like parties or sports and will investigate additional disciplinary measures, up to expulsion of members or the entire chapter.

Theta Chi, based in Indianapolis, has 131 chapters in the U.S. and Canada and more than 161,000 initiates. It was founded in 1856.

The San Diego chapter was founded 61 years ago and has 65 members.

"They were on the upswing," Taylor said. "They had improved their recruitment. They were trying to raise money for a new house."

University police and federal drug agents worked together in the investigation, making more than 130 undercover drug buys at locations including fraternity houses, student parking areas and dormitories, authorities said.

Shawn Collinsworth, executive director of the national office of Phi Kappa Psi, said he was told by two of the SDSU fraternity chapter's leaders that four of its members were arrested. He said the fraternity is cooperating with the investigation.

"It isn't behavior becoming of Phi Kappa Psi," Collinsworth said.

San Diego State is one of the largest schools in California's state university system with about 34,000 students. The campus has an active network of fraternities and sororities.

[nolalou]

But Officer, this is just our economics project on ''supply and demand''!

[Renegade.Rivers]

Little George was running low, and he heard that those kids had some really good stuff. Those two kilos of cola were flew out to the White House late last night. Little George is gonna keep one, and he''s gonna give the other one to his daughter for the wedding crowd. As for the pot, that is Old Chaney''s bag, he put dibs on it right away after he heard it was some of that Northern CA. stuff, and really has a kick to it. He is hoping that it''s as good as the stuff he used to get from Noriega, before daddy Bush took him down. The 350 Ecstasy pills are going to Condi, she is a real party hound you know. The meth is going to the IRS, they got work to do, and little George hopes that will help "speed" them up. Those checks should be out sooner than expected to aid in the economy stimulation. The "magic" mushrooms will be going to Bernanke, he''s hoping to come up with a new idea to drag the dollar down a little more. The hash oil is going to go to Samuel W. Bodman, secretary of energy, as soon as he heard they had struck oil, he was holding his arm up, saying "me, me, me," he''s hoping it will help the energy crisis. And last, but not least, the prescription meds are going to Mom and Pop Bush, they have been having trouble paying for their meds with all the Medicare cuts.

[blackbug99]

Hopefully that money was going to pay tuition.

[timetravelr]

You figure they popped 96,so half will talk so their goes another48 down to the station then half them will talk,they got a good haul.Price of drugs went up in that neighborhood.Glad I grew out of the *** years ago!
Posted by swwils
----------------
Glad you''re still here to talk about it.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Or maybe Rudy654 is right, and the cops are in on the business too!" Posted by omded

Maybe? As soon as the evidence is used in the trial, it will disappear. Two kilos of coke at even $100 per gram is $200,000. No cop can resist that much money, or the erotic pleasures that usually accompany this substance.

And I am only referring to the coke.

[swwils]

I love it BUSTED! that ought to teach these young adults college is for studying ,not studying dope!I bet some parents know why their credit card rates are so HIGH now!

[juliuswillis]

wow. i thought mushrooms were hard to get.

[amazedd]

Les Enfants Terribles, shame!

[swwils]

You figure they popped 96,so half will talk so their goes another48 down to the station then half them will talk,they got a good haul.Price of drugs went up in that neighborhood.Glad I grew out of the *** years ago!

[swwils]

Guess they were doing more than studying you think.Jail is a bad place too be trust me!

[amazedd]

Spring Clean, quotha? Why bother, when you can obliterate!

[apprxam]

I''m sure someone else used that one earlier.

[apprxam]

"HIGHER" EDUCATION?

Oh, that was terrible. I''m sorry about that, but it was too easy.

[omded]

PFD572, you make a good point too. Like alcohol, no drug, whether legal or illegal should be sold to children. The drugs that are currently illegal should only be legalized for adults, and those adults who choose to use them should be held fully accountable for their behavior related in any way to their drug use. I frankly don''t see why the "law enforcement" lobby doesn''t settle for focusing on preventing the sale of intoxicating or mind altering substances to children. They''d keep plenty busy, I''m sure. Maybe they find it easier to go around conducting sting operations to catch people with three finger bags of marijuana for their personal use, or catching the so-called "Johns" as they try to hire a date for the evening. Or maybe Rudy654 is right, and the cops are in on the business too!

[pfd572]

But what is the big surprise they were justice and homeland security majors? Think about all the experience and credibility they would have been bringing to the job.

[pfd572]

Regardless of whether or not drugs are made legal, selling anything related to addictive or deadly drug use should not be made available to children or sold in stores that cater to children. It isn''t unusual for these convenience style stores to sell illegal products, many of them sell illegal fireworks year round, too. Who knows what else.

[omded]

Scorpio59er, those words are very well said! If the truth were fully told, I''m sure a big part of the push behind all the anti drug laws is the "law enforcement" lobby, fighting to ensure the job security of their constituents. It''s interesting how hard they try to keep everyone from realizing just how big their lobby is.

On a different note. I have to say that the fraternities and sororities at SDSU have been a constant nusiance to the university for years. The university has 34 thousand students, and most of them want to get a good education. Unfortunately, there''s a small community of, probably not more than 300 people, who are only interested in partying. If they just want to party, there''s no reason for them to be enrolled in a university. They should get it all out of their system first, and then enroll in college when they''re ready to be serious about it. Hopefully, the university will now do what it should have done decades ago, and expel almost all the "greek" organizations from campus. I say "almost all", because there are a couple of fraternities which are ethnically oriented, and they don''t cause any trouble for anyone.

[rudy654-2009]

I can tell you what a joke this is. In my area, an organized parent group reported on places where known drug dealers lived and how they wanted the police to do something about them, as they were supplying high school students. The police answered that yeah, they know these guys deal in drugs and they are part of an ongoing investigation, so for now they can''t do anything against them. So, in the meantime, the creeps continue to peddle their product without any interference from law enforcement. If you ask me, I think law enforcement is involved.

[lemonskink]

Hey, they are just being groomed for positions like, President, Vice President, and cabinet positions.

[scorpio59er]

Legalize all drugs. Freedom of choice. Put the drug dealers and the DEA and the phony "drug war" out of business.

Conservatives rail against the "Nanny State" but want that same "Nanny State" to dictate personal choice.

All that the present system does is spawn massive corruption, violent crime, gangs and court/prison overcrowding. It has to be apparent by now that this is a monumental failure. Remember what Prohibition did for organized crime, folks. Trying to stop people from drinking or taking drugs or whatever personal lifestyle choice they want to make didn''t work then and it doesn''t work now.

Education, treatment, and jail time only for those who actually endanger others with their behavior -- that''s it. But going to jail for snorting something? That''s insane. I can go out right now and LEGALLY get blind drunk, though.

Sheesh.