Seven folks have been arrested and charged in reference to an alleged social media drug ring at Rutgers College, authorities introduced this week.
The sweeping undercover narcotics operation, often known as “Operation RU Pharm,” uncovered a “closed and private social media network utilized by Rutgers University students to sell and purchase” medicine, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone mentioned in an announcement Thursday.
The sting operation discovered that an alumnus of Rutgers created a personal social media community the place “narcotics distributors could post menus for drugs and solicit buyers from within the Rutgers University community.”
Rutgers college students who established their affiliation with the varsity had been allowed to hitch the community, browse the “menus,” and make contact with distributors to barter drug purchases.
Officers charged Anudeep Revuri, a 23-year-old from North Brunswick, with one rely of first-degree chief of a drug trafficking community; two counts of second-degree conspiracy to commit drug distribution; and one rely of third-degree conspiracy to commit drug distribution. Revuri’s profile on LinkedIn reveals he graduated from the college in 2022.
Six different folks — Joshua Duffy, 20; Zachary Petersen, 22; Catherine Tierney, 23; David Nudelman, 20; Donovin Williams, 20; and Noa Lisimachio, 21 — had been charged with varied levels of possession and distribution of managed substances.
Rutgers spokespeople didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Saturday.
Ciccone, the Middlesex County prosecutor, mentioned the investigation is “active and continuing.” She inspired anybody with details about the case to contact her workplace’s narcotics process drive. She added that the fees towards all seven folks had been “merely accusations, and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
