Authorities charged 21 mostly current or former students in a drug bust that involved colleges in North Carolina, ABC News reported Friday, quoting information by the U.S. Justice department.
Members of a fraternity at the state's top-tier schools were part of a drug trafficking ring that for years transferred a large amount of drugs into three campuses, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
The college campuses include the Appalachian State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
According to Matt Martin, U.S. legal counsel for the Middle District of North Carolina, the suspects moved more than half a ton of marijuana and several hundred kilos of cocaine, LSD, steroids, Xanax, mushrooms, human growth hormones and other drugs throughout the state's college campuses.
Court documents show that the alleged traffickers funneled the narcotics from California to North Carolina through the U.S. Postal Service and would also send payments via mail by concealing vacuum-sealed cash inside toasters and other home appliances, reports said.
Court records show that between 2017 and 2020, the illegal drug operation involved fraternity chapters of Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Sigma and Phi Gamma Delta at the University of North Carolina.
The first person charged in the investigation was Francisco Javier Ochoa, who U.S. Justice officials identified as a "primary supplier" of the illegal drugs. Ochoa pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 73 months in prison.
"This investigation reveals that the fraternity culture at these universities is dangerous," WSOC TV quoted U.S. Attorney Matt Martin as saying.
Charges of conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs carry penalties upon conviction ranging from not less than five years to life in prison, with fines ranging from $1 million to $10 million, the U.S. Justice department said.
