Tweet
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
For two Northeastern freshmen, school year begins and ends with arrest
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
A pair of freshmen at Northeastern University learned a tough lesson before classes even started this semester, when one of them allegedly leaned out the window of his dormitory and yelled something regrettable in earshot of plainclothes police officers.
"If you're looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale," Michael R. Emery yelled, according to a release issued today by the Suffolk district attorney's office.
The sales pitch, made Sunday to a fellow student out a second-floor window at the Hemenway Street residence hall, got Emery, 18, and his roommate, Matthew J. Ferrante, 18, in a lot of trouble. After their room was searched and officers found a bevy of marijuana, smoking accessories and liquor, the pair was arrested, arraigned, and apparently thrown out of school.
"I can tell you that they are no longer students here at Northeastern," said Laura Shea, a school spokeswoman, who declined to comment further.
According to the release from prosecutors, police went to the second floor of the dormitory after hearing Emery yell and found the door open. In plain view was a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, a shot glass, and a plastic baggie of marijuana. The officers knocked and identified themselves to Emery, of Haverhill, and Ferrante, of North Andover.
As they spoke to the teens, police spotted another bag of marijuana and a glass pipe. The officers read the students their rights and received permission to search the room, according to the release. The search yielded eight small bags of marijuana, a larger bag containing three to four ounces of marijuana, hundreds of clear plastic baggies, and a Triton T2 digital scale. The officers also found a grinder, a bong, $1,045 in cash, bottles of Malibu rum, Smirnoff Twist raspberry vodka, and Southern Comfort, and a vaporizer, a device that uses heat to release marijuana's intoxicating chemicals but does not burn the plant.
Outside the window of their room, the students had rigged a pulley system that had been designed to raise and lower items from the room directly overhead. It was not immediately how the students were using the pulley system, prosecutors said.
Emery and Ferrante were arraigned Tuesday in Roxbury District Court and charged with possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute in a school zone, possession of alcohol by a minor, and conspiracy to violate the state's drug laws. The teens were released without bail and are scheduled to return to court Oct. 24.
A message left at Emery's parents home was not returned. Reached by phone today at his parents home in North Andover, Ferrante said: "I do not want to talk about it."
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 07:02 PM
Comment