Show i drug bust Tony Perry Los Angeles Times T mes The undercover officers started at to appear at fraternity parties San Diego State University about six months ago They dressed and talked like students complained about their professors and their parents talked freely and knowingly of things of great interest on campus sports music sex and drugs Soon they were accepted with no questions asked They were spotted at student hangouts on and off campus They swapped cell phone numbers members with other partygoers They text messaged Drug Continued on AS Drug bust Continued from A I 1 with their newfound friends The real students appeared to accept the pretend ones most but not all of whom were men On a campus of students blending into the crowd was not difficult Neither was collecting evidence of drug dealing and drug use On Tuesday authorities announced that th 96 y young young ng 75 students men including had been arrested on a variety of drug charges as asa asa asa a result of the undercover Operation Sudden Fall which infiltrated seven fraternities on Fraternity Row Rowand and Fraternity Circle The investigation involved marijuana 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 receiving a masters master's degree in homeland security and had worked with campus police as a security officer One allegedly was selling cocaine to school high-school students A A A- criminal nm justice major was arrested for possession of cocaine officials said As he was being arrested he asked officers if this would hurt his chances for fora a law-enforcement law career officials said Authorities said they also arrested a year old man who was not a student but was dealing on campus They said he was connected to a Pacoima gang with possible ties to the Mexican Mafia This operation shows how accessible and pervasive illegal drugs continue to be on our college campuses and how common it is for students to tobe tobe tobe be selling to other students said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis The university police began the investigation a year ago after a year 19 old female student died of cocaine and ethanol intoxication SanD iego State President Stephen Weber said at a news conference Tuesday morning at the district attorneys attorney's office About six months ago the probe was broadened to include the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and you youth youthful looking t h fu looking ful-looking I I 0 0 kin g undercover officers from several local police departments who quickly became regulars in the weekend party scene During the investigation a 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 students' students deaths officials said About 20 of the students who were arrested were involved in selling drugs authorities said The rest were arrested for possession About drug purchases were made during the investigation both on and andoff andoff andoff off campus The operation was so successful said Deputy District Attorney Damon head of the DAs DA's narcotics unit that the alleged drug dealers sold drugs to people they did not know on the basis of undercover officers' officers referrals More experienced drug dealers would never exhibit such carelessness he said Authorities also arrested Omar Castaneda 36 who is not a student and allegedly connected to a gang in P Pacoima coima that has possible ties to the Mexican mafia said Ralph W. W Partridge a special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego Weber president said he did not hesitate to allow undercover officers on on campus 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 and Delta Sigma Pi fraternities were arrested Late Tuesday the university announced the suspension of six fraternities Lambda Chi Alpha Phi Kappa Phi Kappa Theta Theta Chi Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu pending a hearing into their involvement in inthe inthe inthe the drug dealing All of the students who were arrested have been suspended Weber said Those that live in university- university owned or maintained housing are being evicted he added Weber said he did not care if his decision to allow undercover officers on campus sparked ire We did the right thing he said I think frankly more universities should step up and take these kinds of actions On the sprawling campus located in eastern San Diego word of the drug busts spread rapidly Angela Beckwith 22 a achild achild achild child development major said the arrests are a shocker but not really a Lots of people are using Im surprised more people arent 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 Kenneth Ciaccio 19 a member of the Theta Chi fraternity sent out a mass text message to faithful customers saying that he was traveling to Las Vegas and would not be able to tomake tomake tomake make his normal cocaine sales the DEA said The publication produced by the university's public relations department that recently lauded Ciaccio as a model student was taken off the university's Web site on Tuesday While the investigation was widely praised in San Diego the nationwide group Drug Policy Alliance liance blasted it as sensationalistic and futile The group believes believe in the decriminalization of marijuana and favo favors favors' increased drug education 1 v and treatment treatment over mass mass t t arrests College students on any campus in this country are easy pickings said Margaret Sammuli Dooley-Sammuli the groups group's deputy state director in Southern California But these types' types of arrests are not the best use of the DEAs DEA's resources resources They should be targeting scale large-scale traffickers and distributors According to the DEA seized evidence includes four pounds of cocaine 50 pounds of marijuana 48 marijuana plants ecstasy pills pills- mushrooms 30 vials of hash oil various illicit prescription drugs one shotgun three semiautomatic pistols three brass knuckles and in cash Officials estimate the total value at 1 They said the marijuana was high grade and probably grown locally because marijuana marijuan smuggled from Mexico is usually of a lower quality Officials said the name f for r the operation referred to the prospect of sudden death from drug usage I |