STATE SEEKS MONEY FROM DRUG RAID

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office filed two forfeiture lawsuits
Monday that claim rights to $6,381 seized from four of six Drew
University students accused in April of selling or having drugs in
their possession.

One lawsuit, filed by Assistant Prosecutor James A. Cannon in
Superior Court, Morristown, seeks forfeiture of $3,921 seized on
April 10 during a raid on a suite in Hurst Hall at the university's
campus in Madison. The state's forfeiture law permits authorities to
procure money allegedly derived through crime.

Most of the $3,921 was found in the common living area and bedrooms
of the Hurst Hall suite, along with marijuana, hashish, various
pills, Psilocybin mushrooms, growing products, a digital scale and a
butterfly knife. A small amount, $576, was found on student Marco
Figueiredo, 19, of Hillside, the complaint stated.

Student Dustin Haselton, 19, of Williston, Vt., told borough
Detective Sgt. Al Troianello that he was solely responsible for
possession of the marijuana and selling the drug from his dorm room
at Hurst Hall, according to the lawsuit.

Haselton, the grandson of a benefactor who has given millions to the
college, also claimed that the $576 taken from suite-mate Figueiredo
was actually his money that he loaned to the friend, the lawsuit said.

Haselton, who is due in Superior Court today for a conference on the
charges that include possession and intent to distribute drugs, will
argue against forfeiture of the money because the money legitimately
is his own, defense lawyer Raymond Flood said.

"He is a student from a financially well-off family and the money is
legal income from investments," Flood said.

In a separate but simultaneous raid on April 10, police seized $2,460
from room 309 in Asbury Hall that was occupied by Katherine Theisen,
20, of Kent, Conn., and Julia Wherley, 21, of Bernardsville. Police
found marijuana in a Mason jar and in a knapsack in their room, as
well as hashish, cocaine, Psilocybin mushrooms, Ecstasy pills and an
electronic scale. Theisen claimed ownership of the marijuana during
the search of her room and she was carrying $365 of the $2,460 found
in her room, the lawsuit said.

The intent to distribute charges against Haselton, Theisen and
Wherley are the most serious and will be handled in Superior Court.
Charges against Figueiredo and suite-mates Jonathan Friesen, 22, of
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Lucas Buzzard, 20, of Oregon, will be
handled in municipal court because they involve possession of less
than 50 grams of marijuana.

University spokesman Thomas Harris said that "appropriate sanctions"
were taken against all the accused students, but that confidentiality
rules barred him from specifically disclosing whether the students
could continue their educations at Drew.