Former Wesleyan Student Sentenced for Distributing 'Molly' in Overdose Case

MIDDLETOWN, CT — Former Wesleyan student Eric Lonergan, 23, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for distributing controlled substances in the 2015 “Molly” case on the Middletown campus in which 11 people were hospitalized for overdoses.

The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford included three years of supervised release following Lonergan’s prison term, U.S. States Attorney Deidre M. Daly announced in a press release.

Lonergan and another former Wesleyan student, Zachary Kramer, 22, were arrested on federal charges related to the “Molly” case on May, 22, 2015.

Kramer, of Bethesda, Maryland, was sentenced to eight months of home confinement followed by four months in prison for his role this past May.

Lonergan began selling “Molly” and MDMA to students on or in the vicinity of the Wesleyan campus beginning in November 2013, according to authorities.

Read more from the press release below:

Lonergan regularly sold Molly from his dorm room, charging approximately $20 per .1 gram, or $200 per gram. Lonergan also counseled students on how to ingest Molly and other psychedelic drugs.

At one point in 2014, after the administration at Wesleyan sent out a campus-wide communication warning of the dangers of ingesting controlled substances like Molly, Lonergan responded by distributing a pamphlet instructing students on the use of psychedelic drugs.

In approximately September 2014, Kramer began purchasing what he believed to be Molly from Lonergan and distributed it to students at Wesleyan. At times, Lonergan used a chemical test on the substance he sold Kramer to prove to him that he was selling Kramer high-quality MDMA.

In September 2014, Lonergan was the source of Molly for several students who were planning a “rolling” party at Wesleyan, which is a party where guests ingest Molly. He provided several grams of a substance he represented to be MDMA, in bulk, and another student then distributed it to students in .1 gram capsules.

At this party, which occurred on September 13, 2014, several students became ill, some seriously, after ingesting the substance provided by Lonergan. Two of these students were transported to the hospital.

After these overdoses, Lonergan sent electronic communications to several students assuring them that the substance he provided to them was indeed MDMA. One of the students who became ill at the party saved one of the capsules she had purchased and turned it over to the Middletown Police in February 2015.

A lab test on the contents of that capsule revealed that it did not contain MDMA, but contained two other controlled substances: AB Fubinaca, a Schedule I controlled substance, and 6-MAPB, an analogue of MDMA.

In approximately December 2014, Kramer became the primary supplier of MDMA at Wesleyan. Kramer typically sold the MDMA in .1 gram quantities for $20 each or he sold it in 5-gram and 10-gram quantities for a discount, charging $100 or more, depending on the customer and the quantity.

During this time period, Lonergan still supplied Kramer with bulk quantities of MDMA. In approximately January 2015, Kramer purchased approximately 45 grams of MDMA from Lonergan. Kramer broke that quantity into 5 and 10-gram bags and distributed those bags to other students who planned to break down the MDMA into .1 gram capsules, sell those capsules to other Wesleyan students, and pay Kramer for the quantity of the drug he had provided to them.

On February 21, 2015, 11 individuals, including 10 Wesleyan students, overdosed on a substance they believed was MDMA, and many were transported to the hospital. Two of the students were in critical condition, and one of the students had to be revived after his heart stopped.

All of these students obtained the purported MDMA through individual distributers who were supplied directly by Kramer.

Although Kramer and some of his distributors destroyed the substance identified as Molly that they had in their possession, one of the distributors did not, and that substance was seized by law enforcement officers and sent to the toxicology laboratory for testing. Laboratory analysis confirmed that the powdered substance contained AB Fubinaca.

Image via Shutterstock