Over a period of five months, undercover officers at Columbia made nearly $11,000 in drug purchases from five students before descending upon the campus in a storm that was labeled by the NYPD “Operation Ivy League.” Law-enforcement agents bought cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, Adderall, and LSD (which, according to the Times, the students applied to Altoids mints and SweetTarts candy) — all drugs that were also sold to students in fraternity houses and elsewhere. According to Columbia’s student-run Bwog, the media has descended upon the Morningside Heights campus, and the dean has sent out a message to all students regarding the incident. The five young men under arrest are named Chris Coles, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Jose Stephan Perez, and Michael Wymbs, according to police. They primarily sold drugs in the common areas and bedrooms of the Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Psi Upsilon fraternities.
Police also arrested three people who are accused of supplying the students with the drugs. Miron Sarzynski and his girlfriend, Megan Aspe, were previously rounded up in their East Village apartment, and Roberto Lagares was arrested in Bed-Stuy on Sunday. Miron Sarzynski faces additional kidnapping charges as a result of his interaction with an undercover officer. The NYPD operative was so effective in his role that Sarzynski asked him for an additional favor. According to police, he “was so intimidating to Mr. Sarzynski that he asked the undercover to help him kidnap and torture rival cocaine sellers. If a ransom wasn’t paid, Sarzynski wanted the rivals killed.”
If the guy they sent undercover with the drug wholesalers was big, scary, and beefy in order to blend in, it makes you wonder: What kind of guy did they send up to Columbia to be a student?
Five Columbia Students Arrested on Drug Charges [City Room/NYT]
Breaking: Five Students Arrested in Drug Bust, “Operation Ivy League” [BWOG]
