Federal government destroys drug ring that used fraternities to supply UNC and Duke students

Federal authorities dismantled a massive drug trafficking ring that supplied cocaine and marijuana to students across North Carolina, resulting in nearly two dozen arrests, officials said Thursday.

The 21 defendants include students and they are charged with funneling drugs, often through fraternities, to classmates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and the Appalachian State University, authorities said.

“It’s about saving lives,” US Attorney Matthew Martin told reporters in Hillsborough. “This is really a public health crisis. We really need to stand together, cut off the supply.”

The investigation dates back at least two years and looked at around $ 1.5 million in sales, officials said.

While the investigation is ongoing, officials said a primary supplier was Francisco Javier Ochoa, a 27-year-old man from Turlock, Calif. It supplied about 200 pounds of marijuana and two kilograms of cocaine to co-defendants in North Carolina each week, authorities said.

He pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges in November and was sentenced to 73 months in prison.

Martin insisted his office was not targeting low level offenders.

“I want to be very clear, this is not a situation where you have casual users, where you have a 19 year old sipping a beer or you have someone taking a puff from a joint on the back porch of the fraternity house, ”the prosecutor said.

“These are 21 hardened drug traffickers. This conspiracy has moved thousands of pounds of marijuana over several years, hundreds of pounds of cocaine.”

The youngest defendant named Thursday is 21 and 13 of them are no more than 24 years old.

Federal officials on Thursday identified two UNC students, a Duke student and an App State student among the accused on Thursday, but declined to say exactly how many of the accused are currently or formerly enrolled in any of the three schools.

“It unfolded like no other case I have seen in my 40 years in law enforcement,” said Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood. “Cheeky attitudes, causal use of large volumes of drugs and then the network started to unfold.”

Martin has stopped blaming school administrators, but said they “can’t turn a blind eye” to the use of narcotics on their campuses.

“We are extremely disappointed to learn of these alleged actions on our campus,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said in a statement. “Although none of the people named today are currently registered students, we will remain vigilant and continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and address any illegal drug use on our campus.

Megan Hayes, associate vice chancellor at App State, said the school “is fully cooperating with this investigation” and remains “committed to providing a safe campus.”

And Vice President Duke Michael Schoenfeld said school officials “take these allegations very seriously” and have pledged to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation.

Donna Mendell contributed.