This undated photo provided by the Montgomery County District Attorney shows 18-year-old Timothy Brooks. …
ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) — Two
prep school graduates sought to use their sports connections and
business acumen to establish a monopoly on drug sales to high school
students in the affluent Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, authorities
said Monday.
A four-month investigation revealed the pair also hired students at Haverford, Gettysburg and Lafayette colleges to peddle drugs at those Pennsylvania schools, authorities said.
Scott and Brooks are graduates of The Haverford School, a $35,000-a-year private institution where both played lacrosse. They tapped their sports and social networks to help further their enterprise, officials said.
"They were using very traditional business principles," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said. "To take those skills and turn it into this kind of illegal enterprise is very distressing."
Scott, Brooks and several others arrested in the alleged ring were arraigned Monday on drug charges and related counts.
Scott's lawyer declined to comment, saying he hadn't yet reviewed the case.
Brooks' attorney, Greg Pagano, described his client as vulnerable and a bit depressed after leaving the University of Richmond last year due to an unnamed injury. Brooks lives at his family's home in Villanova.
"He, regrettably, lost his way," Pagano said. "His parents are devastated."
Scott, of Haverford, began selling pot after he moved back to the area last fall from San Diego, where he worked at a medical marijuana dispensary, officials said.
Scott told police that he needed money and figured he could make it by selling better marijuana than what was currently available in the area. He said that an unspecified California connection could supply him with high-quality pot, which he told police "would sell very well on the Main Line because everyone between 15 and 55 loves good weed," an investigator wrote in the affidavit.
Scott began having the drug
mailed to Pennsylvania in late 2013 and called his operation the "Main
Line Take Over Project," authorities said. Officials began an
investigation in January based on a tip and eventually executed search
warrants at nine locations.
Among
the contraband they reported seizing was eight pounds of pot, more than
$11,000, a loaded assault weapon, two other guns and equipment to
manufacture hash oil. Scott has been in custody since February, held on
$1 million bail.
Authorities
didn't calculate the total value of the operation, but Scott told police
he was making about $1,000 per week on marijuana alone, the affidavit
said.
Ferman said the
investigation continues. So far, eight suspects have been arrested, and
authorities say at least three more are involved.
One
suspect, a current student at The Haverford School, has been suspended
indefinitely, said headmaster John Nagl. He said the alleged involvement
of the student and two alums is "hugely disappointing."
"Those
choices reflect badly on the values the school stands for," Nagl said.
"They let down themselves and their families, who've made huge
sacrifices to send them to this school."
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