Seventeen Texas Christian University (TCU) students, including four football players, were arrested by Fort Worth police, Wednesday, and slapped with charges of substance abuse.
"There's no doubt all arrested today are drug dealers," The Daily Skiff quoted TCU Police Chief Steven McGee as saying. "These students engaged in hand-to-hand delivery with undercover officers."
The students were charged with peddling drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy pills, molly (a powdered form of ecstasy), and prescription drugs such as Xanax, hydrocodone and Oxycontin, McGee said. The arrest concludes a six month investigation that was prompted by complaints from students, parents and others in the community. About 9,500 students are enrolled in TCU.
McGee said Wednesday's arrest involved drug peddlers and he did not rule out further arrests.
TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini said he did not think the arrests indicated a larger issue. He said the arrested students were "immediately separated from TCU" and would be expelled if convicted.
TCU head football coach Gary Patterson said he was ashamed, hurt and angry by the incident. "As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad," Patterson said.
"Under my watch, drugs and drug use by TCU's student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff. Period," the coach said in a statement. In 2011, a Sports Illustrated article had lauded TCU as the only top 25 team in the nation in 2010 with no players on its roster with criminal records.
