Former Wesleyan Student Sentenced in 'Molly' Overdose Case

HARTFORD, CT — Former Wesleyan student Zachary Kramer, 22, was sentenced to eight months of home confinement followed by four months in prison for his role 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 on Thursday includes three years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and Kramer must participate in outpatient drug treatment, according to U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly.

Kramer, of Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, and to distribute, MDMA (“Molly”) on Nov. 12, 2015. He was arrested, along with Eric Lonergan, on federal charges on May 22, 2015.

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Before the sentence was handed down, Kramer told Bryant that he wanted to take responsibility “100 percent” for his actions, according to the Hartford Courant.

"I was a drug dealer," he said, via the Courant, adding that he was “horrified that in the aftermath of what happened at Wesleyan I tried to cover my tracks.”

Around September 2014, Kramer began purchasing what he believed to be Molly from Lonergan and distributed it to students at Wesleyan, Daly said in a press release.

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, according to the press release. 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 and two of the students were hospitalized.

After these overdoses, Lonergan sent emails 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, according to the press release.

Authorities said that Kramer became the primary supplier of MDMA at Wesleyan around December 2014.

During this time period, Lonergan still supplied Kramer with bulk quantities of MDMA, according to authorities.

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, according to the press release.

Although Kramer and some of his distributers destroyed the substance identified as Molly that they had in their possession, one of the distributers 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.

Kramer and Lonergan were arrested on federal charges on May 22, 2015.

On November 12, 2015, Kramer pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, and to distribute, MDMA (“Molly”).

Lonergan pleaded guilty to the same charge on November 30, 2015, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15.