SDSU bust has Poway ties
The May 2007 drug-related death of San Diego State University coed Jenny Poliakoff prompted an undercover drug sting that culminated Tuesday with 96 arrests, according to officials.
Poliakoff, 19, reportedly partied into the late hours of May 5, then returned minutes after midnight to her apartment, which she shared with her brother Matt.
It was her brother who found her dead inside the apartment the following morning.
The 2006 Poway High School alumna died of a cocaine overdose, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s report released after her death.
Seventy-five San Diego State University students and 21 others were arrested Tuesday for various drug offenses, including sales of cocaine on campus, after a five-month undercover DEA operation.
During the culmination of “Operation Sudden Fall,” campus police and DEA investigators found drugs in at least seven fraternities, confiscating about $100,000 worth of drugs, including cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy pills and other illegal substances.
“One of the fraternities had drug dealers from top to bottom,” said Paul Levikow, spokesman for the San Diego District Attorney’s office.
The investigation started five months ago, prompted by Poliakoff’s death on May 6, 2007.
“It’s unfortunate that it took the accidental cocaine overdose of a student to refocus attention on the problem,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
The undercover work netted as many as 130 suspects, many of whom were arrested May 6, while others were released because the amount of drugs in their possession constituted a minor offense, said DEA Public Affairs Officer Eileen Ziedler.
Those arrested were suspended and evicted from school-managed living quarters, according to school officials.
“This will continue to be an ongoing investigation with several leads that our agents will follow,” Ziedler said.
Omar Castaneda, 36, along with Patrick Hawley, another non-student, are suspected of supplying the drugs to campus dealers. They were arrested a few days ago, officials said.
One of the student defendants suspected of being a drug dealer was a month away from getting his master’s degree in Homeland Security and had worked as a community service officer on the school grounds.
While the focus has been on the drug activity at SDSU, Poliakoff’s friends and family remembered the coed this week, on the first-year anniversary of her death, as “vivacious, fun loving and intelligent.”
Because of her community service work and commitment to Friendship Circle, which provides activities for special needs kids at Chabad of Poway, those who knew her hosted “Jenny’s Walk” on Sunday, May 4 at SDSU.
They raised $100,000 in her memory, which will now be donated to Friendship Circle, as a reminder of her community service work.