Wesleyan Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty
One of the Wesleyan University students who was indicted for distributing Molly and K2 on campus this past February, as chronicled in Rolling Stone’s revealing, in-depth investigative article, has pleaded guilty to federal drug-dealing charges. Zachary Kramer, a 22-year-old neuroscience major, told authorities Thursday that he had indeed distributed drugs that sickened nearly a dozen students, according to The Washington Post.
The federal indictment, filed this past May, charged Kramer and fellow student Eric Lonergan with conspiring to distribute MDMA and AB Fubinaca (also known as K2, spice and legal weed), attempted distribution of the substances, and distributing Molly within 1,000 feet of a private college. Hartford Courant speculates that Lonergan will plead guilty to the charges against him on November 23rd.
Three other students – Rama Agha al-Nakib, Andrew Olson and Abhimanyu Janamanchi – were also arrested in the bust. All three face charges of possession. Olson and Janamanchi have been charged with the sale of the drugs on the state level.
Wesleyan expelled all five students.
As Rolling Stone reported, the arrests followed several students becoming sick after ingesting drugs at a number of campus parties, including one for the Eclectic Society, an “anti-fraternity.” Janamanchi began feeling sick after taking the drugs and called Kramer, who gave him water and crackers and told him to sleep. The next morning, Janamanchi stopped breathing, and Kramer called 911. In total, 11 students who took the drugs that night required emergency medical attention.
The indictment claimed that Kramer had begun selling Molly, a Schedule I controlled substance, on campus in the summer of 2014 and initially bought his supply from Lonergan. It goes on to say that, by December, Kramer was the primary supplier of MDMA at the university, and returned from winter break in January 2015 with at least 25 grams of the substance. After the rash of hospitalizations in February, Kramer met with one of his distributors and asked him not to cooperate with the police. He then destroyed his supply, but one of his dealers did not and the drug was seized and analyzed by law enforcement. They learned then that the powder they were selling contained K2.
Kramer declined to speak to Rolling Stone. While at Wesleyan, he reportedly maintained a 4.0 GPA while participating in several extracurricular activities, including singing a cappella, working at a nonprofit to help small businesses and participating in SLAM poetry competitions. He’d also interned at Merrill Lynch and the Food and Drug Administration. One Wesleyan student who went to the hospital after taking the drugs told Rolling Stone that she still considered Kramer a friend. “There was no malicious intent behind anything that they’re accused of,” she says. “No one ever intended to get anyone sick.”