Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/21/14
From DA Office Press Release
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and police officials from five counties and two other police departments today announced the arrest of eight individuals, an arrest warrant on another and petitions on two juveniles for the wide-spread distribution of drugs in area high schools and colleges.
The “Main Line Take Over Project,” as it is described through seized text messages by the organization’s two main alleged drug suppliers, describe an entire business plan to take over the marijuana drug trade in local high schools and colleges in Montgomery and surrounding counties of Pennsylvania.
Together, these individuals sold cocaine, marijuana, hash oil and ecstasy to students at local Main Line high schools, colleges and fraternity houses. This investigation into drug trafficking led to the arrests of the organization’s main drug suppliers, Montgomery County residents, Neil Scott and Timothy Brooks, both Haverford School graduates that played on the lacrosse team.
Charges have been filed against the following defendants:
The alleged suppliers: Neil K. Scott, 25, of Haverford, Pennsylvania; a 2008 Graduate of The Haverford School; and Timothy C. Brooks, 18, of Villanova, a 2013 Graduate of The Haverford School, who attended the University of Richmond in the first semester of 2013.
Alleged sub-dealers: Daniel Robert McGrath, 18 of Glenolden, a current student at The Haverford School; John Cole Rosemann, 20, of Weston, Connecticut, a current student at Lafayette College; Christian Stockton Euler, 23, of Villanova, a Graduate of the Haverford School, a current student at Lafayette College who earned All-Inter-Ac League First Team honors in lacrosse at Haverford School; Garrett M. Johnson, 18, of Jericho, N.Y., attends Haverford College; Reid Cohen, 18, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., attends Haverford College; Willow Lynn Orr, 22, of Philadelphia; Domenic Vincent Curcio, 29, of Philadelphia; Juvenile T.J.B, 17, a student at Radnor High School; Juvenile M.G.M, 17, a student at Lower Merion High School.
“These arrests show that we are all affected by the cancerous and corruptive nature of illegal drugs,” said Philadelphia County District Attorney District Attorney Seth Williams. “This is everyone’s problem. As the father of three daughters, two of whom are still in middle school, it is jarring that drugs from California not only made it to our area but that high school students were being used as dealers.
“The days of believing ‘it can’t happen here’ are long gone and I commend my colleague and friend, Risa Ferman and her hardworking office on these arrests.”
In January of 2014, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Narcotics Enforcement Team and the Lower Merion Township Police Department initiated an investigation into a marijuana and cocaine trafficking organization, and identified Neil K. Scott and Timothy C. Brooks as the organization’s principal suppliers. The investigation revealed that Scott was shipped bulk (pounds) marijuana from a California supplier. Shipments went to Scott’s Haverford apartment, which was the base of his illegal drug operation.
Scott also used his parent’s home in Paoli, and Brooks’ family home in Villanova to conduct their drug business. In addition to marijuana, Scott and Brooks allegedly sold and employed students from five local high schools and three colleges as sub dealers to distribute cocaine, marijuana, hash oil and MDMA (ecstasy):
*Lower Merion High School
*The Haverford School
*Harriton High School
*Conestoga High School
*Radnor High School
*Gettysburg College
*Lafayette College
*Haverford College
District Attorney Ferman said, “Parents across our community have chosen to send their children to these schools and colleges because they are some of the finest institutions of learning in the United States. These drug dealers, motivated by their own greed, sought to create a network to push poison into our educational institutions and take-over drug distribution on the Main Line. While parents sought to provide education to their kids, these defendants sought to use the schools to create drug addicts.
The architects of the “main line take over project “had their chance at education and failed. They tried to infiltrate our schools, not for educational purposes, but to make money and to drag
others into the downward spiral that their lives had become.”
In addition to distributing narcotics from his apartment in Montgomery County, Neil Scott made regular trips to the campuses of Gettysburg College in Adams County and Lafayette College, in Northampton County, to deliver marijuana, MDMA and cocaine to sub-dealers. Neil Scott encouraged college sub-dealers to locate new customers to offset his cost of driving to their campuses. Scott offered the sub-dealers incentives for locating new customers and making referrals. The incentives were lower prices for drugs and the opportunity to buy them on credit.
Text messages recovered during this investigation revealed that Neil Scott gave Timothy Brooks business advice on how to expand the sale of marijuana in local high schools. Brooks in return, supervised sub-dealers who sold marijuana at the local high schools. Brooks supplied them with marijuana and encouraged them to efficiently distribute drugs at their schools.
The high school sub-dealers were encouraged to sell at least one (1) pound of marijuana a week. Brooks encouraged his sub-dealers to meet their weekly quota. The incentives included a lower purchase price for marijuana in order to increase their profit margin. Brooks instructed the high school sub-dealers to make certain there was always a constant supply of marijuana in their assigned school. Brooks said this was important to him because he remembered not always being able to buy marijuana when he was in high school.
From February 28, 2014 to April 9, 2014, detectives executed multiple search warrants and evidence of this drug trafficking organization was seized at 9 locations in the Pennsylvania Counties of Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Northampton, Adams, and Philadelphia, including the homes of Neil Scott and Timothy Brooks. In total, the following items of significance were seized during the course of this investigation: Approximately 8 pounds of marijuana; Approximately 3 grams of hash oil; Approximately 23 grams of cocaine; Approximately 11 grams of MDMA; $11,035.00 in U.S. Currency; 1 loaded .223 caliber AR-15 Assault Rifle; 1 loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol; 1 .22 caliber AR-15 style rifle; Additional .22 caliber, .223 caliber and 9mm ammunition; A 2007 Toyota 4 Runner sport utility vehicle; A 2009 Acura RDX sport utility vehicle; 8 cellular phones; 1 computer; Equipment and supplies used to manufacture butane hash oil; Numerous items of drug paraphernalia.
The defendants in custody and had their preliminary arraignments today before Montgomery County Magisterial District Judge Kathleen Valentine, Ardmore.
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