University police bust drug operation in apartments near campus

By Daily Illini Staff Report





University police, along with investigators, made a drug bust Tuesday at two apartments near campus. The 21-year-old resident of an East Chalmers apartment is thought to also be staying at the second apartment searched by police on South Third Street.

According to a press release, the Target Response Unit searched both apartments and found cannabis-packing materials in the apartment in the 200 block of East Chalmers Street as well as 745 grams of marijuana and $5,221 in the apartment in the 500 block of Third Street. The drugs could potentially sell for $6,500.

The Target Response Unit focuses on breaking up larger drug operations in the area, which are selling into campus. According to the press release, the unit has made arrests involving cannabis, cocaine, MDMA, psilocybin mushroom and heroin in recent months.

The unit has dealt with multiple drug busts in the campus area recently; Michael Genovese, a former University student, plead guilty of possession with intent to deliver Sep. 30. Genovese lived at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity on campus and admitted to having between five and 15 grams of ecstasy in his room in May of 2014.

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University police spokesman Pat Wade spoke highly of the Targeted Response unit in early October in an interview on the subject of drug sales funneling into campus.

“The biggest resource is our Targeted Response Unit,” Wade said in an interview early October. “We’ve seen people end up in the emergency room on these drugs.”

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