Two Students Arrested In Drug Bust At Reed

By COREY PEIN

Portland police arrested 20-year-old Reed College students, Roland Bracewell Shoemaker and Manuel Abreu, on Monday, seizing what an announcement described as "an estimated 2-3 pounds of marijuana, a small amount of MDMA and LSD, as well as packaging material and scales."


Shoemaker, pictured left, face the most serious allegations, arrested for what police call "Delivery of Marijuana within 1000’ of a School, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of MDMA, and Possession of LSD," according to the Portland Police Bureau announcement published today.

Abreu, pictured below right, was arrested for delivery and possession of marijuana.

Police said they were called in by Reed College Community Safety following "numerous complaints" about drug sales to Reed students.

[Update 4:20 pm—Portland police corrected their earlier release to say that "Reed College Community Safety was responding to noise complaints, not drug complaints."]

Reed spokesman Kevin Myers says federal student privacy laws limit what he can say about the case. 

"All we can say is we have a memorandum of understanding with the Portland Police Bureau that dictates how we handle these situations," Myers tells WW. "We have a very close working relationship with the Portland Police Bureau."

The college's relationship with authorities, particularly around problems of student drug use and distribution, has not always been "close," and came under extra scrutiny after a student's heroin overdose in 2008. 

Yesterday morning, Myers confirms, Reed College president Colin S. Diver sent the following email to students:
Yesterday afternoon, two Reed students were taken into police custody on suspicion of felony drug charges, relating to alleged possession and distribution of large quantities of illegal drugs. This action was taken in accordance with Reed's Memorandum of Understanding with the Portland Police Bureau regarding cooperation in enforcement of state and federal drug laws, as well as the published plan for implementing the college's Drug and Alcohol Policy. 

After collecting substantial, reliable information, Reed's Community Safety Department established probable cause that very serious illegal and dangerous activities were taking place in a campus student residence. I reviewed the evidence, and in consultation with VP/Dean of Students Mike Brody and Community Safety Director Gary Granger made the decision to search the campus residence. 

The College has made it clear, in the Alcohol and Other Drugs Implementation Plan and in consistent actions implementing that Plan over the past three years, that it cannot and will not tolerate the possession, use, or distribution of illegal drugs on campus property. Such behavior endangers the health and welfare of the entire community, attracts potentially dangerous criminal activity on campus, undermines the academic mission of the college, and violates the college's obligations under state and federal law. 

 The actions taken yesterday are fully consistent with the college's consistently articulated and enforced obligations to its students and to the larger community. If similar circumstances arise in the future, the college will take the same actions.

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