Cops have nothing better to do

[kola]

96 arrested in San Diego State drug bust
Fraternity houses were infiltrated in a six-month undercover investigation, and widespread drug-dealing was found, authorities say.
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 7, 2008

SAN DIEGO — The undercover officers started to appear at San Diego State fraternity parties about six months ago.

They dressed like students, complained about their parents and professors, and talked freely and knowingly of things of great interest on campus: music, sex and drugs.

Soon they were accepted, with no questions asked. They were spotted at student hangouts on and off campus. They swapped cellphone numbers with other partygoers. They text-messaged their newfound friends.

The real students appeared to accept the pretend ones -- most but not all of whom were men. On a campus of 34,000 students, blending into the crowd was not difficult. Neither was collecting evidence of drug dealing and drug use.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that 96 young men -- including 75 students -- had been arrested on a variety of drug charges as a result of Operation Sudden Fall, which infiltrated seven fraternities on Fraternity Row and Fraternity Circle. Officials said the name of the operation referred to the prospect of sudden death from drug usage.

The investigation involved marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

One of the alleged drug dealers is 19 and recently had been praised as a model student in a university publication. Another was just a month away from earning a master's degree in homeland security and had worked with the campus police as a security officer. One allegedly was selling cocaine to high school students.

A criminal justice major was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine. As he was being arrested, he asked officers if this would hurt his chances for a law enforcement career, officials said.

Among the suspected drug dealers is Omar Castaneda, 36, who is not a student and is allegedly connected to a gang in Pacoima that has possible ties to the Mexican Mafia, said Ralph W. Partridge, a special-agent-in-charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

"This operation shows how accessible and pervasive illegal drugs continue to be on our college campuses and how common it is for students to be selling to other students," said San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis.

University police began the investigation a year ago after a 19-year-old female student died of cocaine and ethanol intoxication, San Diego State President Stephen Weber said at a news conference Tuesday morning at the district attorney's office.

About six months ago, the probe was broadened to include agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and youthful-looking undercover officers from several local police departments, who quickly became regulars at the weekend party scene.

During the investigation, a 24-year-old student at San Diego Mesa College died of a cocaine overdose after a party at a San Diego State fraternity house. None of the arrests Tuesday was linked to the two students' deaths, officials said.

About 20 of the arrested students were involved in selling drugs, authorities said. The remainder were arrested on suspicion of possession. About 130 drug purchases were made during the investigation, both on and off campus.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Damon Mosler, head of the district attorney's narcotics unit, said the operation was so successful that the alleged drug dealers sold narcotics to people they didn't know on the basis of undercover officers' referrals. More experienced drug dealers would never exhibit such carelessness, Mosler said.

Weber, the university's president, said he did not hesitate to allow undercover officers on campus, even if that decision sparked ire.

"We did the right thing," he said. "I think, frankly, more universities should step up and take these kinds of actions."

As for those responsible for drug dealing, he said, "if we find that the fraternities as organizations were involved, they will be kicked off campus."

Several members of the Theta Chi, Phi Kappa Psi and Delta Sigma Pi fraternities were arrested.

Late Tuesday, the university announced the suspension of six fraternities -- Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Theta, Theta Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu -- pending a hearing into their involvement in the drug dealing.

All of the arrested students have been suspended, Weber said. Those who live in university-owned or maintained housing are being evicted, he added.

On the sprawling campus in eastern San Diego, word of the drug busts spread rapidly.

Angela Beckwith, 22, a child development major, said the arrests "are a shocker but not really a surprise. Lots of people are using."

"I'm surprised more people aren't caught or get hurt," said Adam Klein, 23, a business major and a member of the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. "This looks bad for the whole Greek system."

One suspect, Kenneth Ciaccio, 19, a member of the Theta Chi fraternity, sent out a mass text message early last month to "faithful customers," saying that he was traveling to Las Vegas and would not be able to make his normal cocaine sales, the DEA said.

A publication produced by the university's public relations department that recently lauded Ciaccio as a model student was taken off its website Tuesday.

Although the investigation was widely praised in San Diego, the nationwide group Drug Policy Alliance blasted it as "sensationalistic" and futile. The group believes in the decriminalization of marijuana and favors increased drug education and treatment over mass arrests.

"College students on any campus in this country are easy pickings," said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, the group's deputy state director for Southern California. "But these types of arrests are not the best use of the DEA's resources. They should be targeting large-scale traffickers and distributors."

According to the DEA, the seized evidence included 4 pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, 48 hydroponic marijuana plants, 350 Ecstasy pills, 30 vials of hash oil, methamphetamine, psilocybin (mushrooms), various illicit prescription drugs, a shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols, three brass knuckles and $60,000 in cash.

Officials put the value of the seized drugs at more than $100,000. They said the marijuana was high-grade and probably grown locally because marijuana smuggled from Mexico is usually of a lower quality.

[J’raxis 270145]

Another was just a month away from earning a master's degree in homeland security and had worked with the campus police as a security officer.

Apparently being able to recognize suspicious people is not part of a homeland security degree.

/There's a "homeland security" degree?

[David]

homeland security degrees are a rising major these days. 
Now that they have opened up the drug market by taking out the relatively nonviolent drug dealers, expect less naive dealers to fill the void.  Where there is demand, there will always be a supplier. 

[Kat Kanning]

They need to man the police state.

[Coconut]

/There's a "homeland security" degree?

I think Keene State has a holocaust major....

[KBCraig]

I'm proud of my Theta Chi brothers for their entrepreneurial spirit. As fundraisers go, dealing drugs has to be a lot more profitable than carwashes and bake sales. 

edit: spelling

[Dylboz]

If my Pi Kappa Phi brothers would show this kind of get up and go, I wouldn't keep getting those fundraising letters (conspicuously missing invitations to their beer busts!).

[StrongArm]

I'm proud of my Theta Chi brothers for their entrepreneurial spirit. As fundraisers go, deal drugs has to be a lot more profitable than carwashes and bake sales. 

That's just sick.

[Dylboz]

I'm proud of my Theta Chi brothers for their entrepreneurial spirit. As fundraisers go, deal drugs has to be a lot more profitable than carwashes and bake sales. 

That's just sick.

Why? Are people not free to put whatever they freely choose into their bodies? Do you consider the cashier at your local liquor store "sick" because he sells alcohol, tobacco and caffeinated beverages? I mean, you're free to judge as you see fit what to do with yourself, as well as hold whatever opinion you like about what I do, so long as you're not going to use force against me, but perhaps you should take at look at your assumptions here. Is he not correct that drugs, especially in their currently outlawed status, are a big money maker? In fact, prohibition is a huge financial boon to drug dealers, many of whom would be out of business and find the bottom kicked out from under their profit margin in a world where drugs were legal to produce, possess and consume. Are you in favor of the continued price support, violence promotion and addiction sufferer imprisonment program known as the War on Drugs?

[srqrebel]

...Officials said the name of the operation referred to the prospect of sudden death from drug usage.

The investigation involved marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

That is all.

---

Oh, and... awesome subject line, Kola!

[mackler]

"This operation shows how accessible and pervasive illegal drugs continue to be on our college campuses and how common it is for students to be selling to other students," said San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis.

among other things.

[kola]

The thing I disliked the most about the article was how the oinkers posed as students....they lied to these young adults, earned their trust, probally partied along with them, had sex with them and then busted them. Nice huh?

How rotten can one be?

Kola

[Free libertarian]

 A little off topic but, Mackler what do you feed your cat?
  Mine won't even catch a mouse, yours seems so much more motivated.