Today, the Department of Justice announced the initial results of a two-year investigation at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, alleging 21 members of the Beta Theta Pi, Phi Gamma Delta, and Kappa Sigma fraternities sold what the Orange County sheriff rather politely referred to as an “astonishing” amount of drugs. If the allegations filed by the DOJ are true, the college drug ring—which peddled its wares on its own campus as well as in neighboring collegiate environments—was a staggering operation, netting what authorities say was over $1.5 million for its budding entrepreneurs. Simply put: It was a lot of drugs.
According to Indy Week, members of the alleged drug ring faces criminal charges for providing over a thousand pounds of marijuana and hundreds of kilos of cocaine to their eager young customers, as well as unspecified amounts of MDMA and other drugs. But the group was not quite as industrious when it came to its operational security: At least $1.3 million in drug money was transferred through mobile apps like Venmo and money orders, the feds say, while investigators cited recovered iCloud messages and GroupMe threads as the basis for their charges.
Our heart goes out to the University of North Carolina’s student body, who will doubtlessly now be forced to find their kicks elsewhere, assuming they’re ever allowed to return to school.