Seven arrested in alleged drug ring with ties to Rutgers University
Seven people were arrested and charged for their involvement with an alleged social media drug ring at Rutgers University, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office in New Jersey.
On Thursday, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said the result of an extensive narcotics investigation, Operation RU Pharm, netted seven arrests.
The investigation was conducted over several months, according to Ciccone, and uncovered a closed and private social media network utilized by Rutgers University students to buy and sell narcotics.
The sting operation found an alumnus of Rutgers created a private social media network through which “narcotics distributors could post menus for drugs and solicit buyers from within the Rutgers University community.”
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An investigation was conducted over several months into a drug ring allegedly involving Rutgers students. (Rutgers University)
Rutgers students who established their affiliation with the school were allowed to join the network, browse the “menus” and contact distributors to negotiate drug purchases.
Investigators also seized a large amount of marijuana, LSD, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, Adderall, Xanax, a large amount of U.S. currency and a gun.
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Former Rutgers student Anudeep Revuri, 23, was charged with one count of being a first-degree leader of a drug trafficking network.
Joshua Duffy, 20, Zachary Petersen, 22, Catherine Tierney, 23, David Nudelman, 20, Donovin Williams, 22, and Noa Lisimachio, 21, were all charged with at least one count of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.
Ciccone said the investigation is still active, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Task Force at 732-745-3300.
Operation RU Pharm netted seven arrests. (Rutgers University Police Department)
In 2020, another major drug trafficking ring was busted involving a college campus after fraternity members and students from the University of North Carolina and Duke University were caught funneling drugs into three college campuses.
Federal law enforcement agents recently charged 21 people in the scheme after an investigation that began in November 2018.
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Investigators say they seized a large amount of drugs. (Google)
The illegal drug activity involved members of chapters of Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma and Beta Theta Pi fraternities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 2017 and the spring of 2020, according to court filings.
The drug ring funneled more than a half ton of marijuana, several hundred kilograms of cocaine and significant quantities of other drugs into UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and Appalachian State University, prosecutors said.
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Prosecutors said the total amount of money made through the trafficking scheme exceeded $1.5 million.
Rutgers did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]
