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Six former and current college students have been indicted as illegal drug traffickers responsible for $500,000 in sales since 2005 in Erie, Pittsburgh and two university campuses.
The leader of the organization, identified by the state Attorney General's office, is Jeffrey Lecorchick, 25, of Erie.
Mr. Lecorchick graduated last year from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and he lived temporarily in Forest Hills.
An informant told investigators that Mr. Lecorchick continued to sell drugs from Forest Hills, and after he returned this year to his hometown, Erie.
He was arraigned Friday on nine counts that include drug trafficking charges, operating a corrupt organization and conspiracy.
In March, Mr. Lecorchick's Forest Hills residence was raided by a multijurisdictional task force. Agents found $100,000, nine firearms that included assault-style rifles, an undisclosed amount of hashish, and debt sheets showing other suspected dealers owe him $100,000, according to Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Mr. Lecorchick is unemployed, Mr. Corbett said in a press release.
The alleged ring leader is being held in the Erie County Jail on $250,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday before District Judge Guy B. Haberl in Erie.
Also arrested were Daniel Bauer, 25, of Monroeville; Todd Aldrich, 26, and Scott Grack, 23, both of Erie; and Denton Sauers, 21, and Brian Showman, 23, both of Waterford, Erie County.
Judge Haberl is to preside at their preliminary hearings on Thursday as well.
Mr. Corbett said Mr. Lecorchick sold marijuana since 2005 while he was a student at IUP. The informant's identity was not revealed in the grand jury indictment, but he is described as a former lower level dealer for Mr. Lecorchick who moved up the ranks. His last delivery from Mr. Lecorchich was 10 pounds of marijuana last February, for which the informant said he was charged $2,775 a pound.
While an undergraduate, Mr. Lecorchick supplied marijuana to be sold by Mr. Sauers, who was a student at Slippery Rock University, and Mr. Bauer, who attended IUP, investigators said.
The informant then had become the leader's debt collector, according to the presentment.
"Being a college student does not make you immune from the consequences of drug trafficking," Mr. Corbett said in the press release today. "If you're selling drugs -- whether on a university campus or in any of our communities -- we will find you and we will put you out of business."
