San Diego DUI lawyers often hear of how hard SDSU has gotten on routine dui or drunk driving arrests by SDSU police. How did this all come about?

Early-morning raids on apartments and fraternities around San Diego State University on May 6, 2008 led to students corralled into Cox Arena for questioning.

At a news conference, federal, county and campus officials announced that dozens of SDSU students had been snared in a massive drug sting dubbed Operation Sudden Fall. Guns and bags of marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy were laid out for the cameras. The court cases stemming from the yearlong undercover operation are wrapping up with much less fanfare. Almost all of the defendants sentenced after pleading guilty to felony charges have been placed on probation or ordered into drug diversion programs.

Some defendants have misdemeanor cases pending. Others received citations or their cases were dismissed. Some were not charged at all.

OPERATION SUDDEN FALL: BY THE NUMBERS
125: Total arrests reported by prosecutors in drug sting

95: SDSU student arrests reported by prosecutors

38: SDSU student arrests reported by the university, contradicting prosecutors' tally

22: SDSU students being expelled

77: Cases handled by the District Attorney's Office

29: Defendants who have pleaded guilty to criminal charges, of the 77 cases

Prosecutors defended the busts and the subsequent publicity.

“It's worthwhile,” said Damon Mosler, chief of the narcotics unit of the District Attorney's Office.

Mosler noted that the investigation was prompted by the fatal cocaine overdose of a 19-year-old SDSU student in May 2007.

While the investigation was under way, a 22-year-old Mesa College student died from a Feb. 26 cocaine overdose in an SDSU fraternity house.

“We put a little bit of pressure on all university officials to say, 'We've got to take this a little more seriously,' ” Mosler said.


National attention
The drug raid generated a media frenzy. The case was widely discussed on the Internet and across the community, and the publicity lingers. Operation Sudden Fall generates more than 47,000 hits on Google. It also has its own entry on Wikipedia.
Within weeks of the sweep, the university launched a public-relations campaign featuring alumni and others praising the school's actions.

President Stephen Weber said the school acted appropriately in contacting federal drug agents and allowing them to pose as students on campus.
“There were very serious consequences to drug abuse on campus, including student deaths,” Weber said. “We had serious reason to believe the health and welfare of students was at risk, and we took action.”

On May 6, authorities reported 96 arrests, 75 of them SDSU students, as a result of the investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and campus police. Officials also seized four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, $60,000 in cash and three handguns, among other things.

Six fraternities were placed on interim suspension.

A couple of days later, prosecutors revised the total number of arrests to 125 – 95 of them students – since January.

University officials contradicted the numbers provided by prosecutors, saying many students were arrested on drug-related charges unrelated to the federal investigation.

According to SDSU, about 38 student arrests can be attributed to Operation Sudden Fall. Twenty-two students accused of felonies are being expelled. Nine charged with misdemeanors were put on disciplinary probation, and two were suspended for at least a semester.

Five others are still under investigation.

Since the announcement, interim suspensions for three fraternities – Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Mu and Phi Kappa Theta – have been lifted. Lambda Chi Alpha was expelled in May for unrelated reasons. Theta Chi and Phi Kappa Psi remain on interim suspension.

Deputy District Attorney Shawn Tafreshi provided a list of 77 defendants whose cases were handled by the District Attorney's Office. Twenty-nine have pleaded guilty to criminal charges, most of them felonies.
Charges were dismissed for six defendants on the list, and three were issued citations. No charges were filed for eight. Others are still pending.

Of those charged with felonies, few are likely to serve long sentences in jail or prison.

Kenneth Ciaccio, 19, whom prosecutors described in May as a “major cocaine dealer,” pleaded guilty last month to one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance for sale. Ciaccio is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 4.

Omar Castaneda-Arce, 37, a nonstudent who prosecutors said served as a middleman between students and Mexican drug cartels, has pleaded not guilty to possession of cocaine for sale. Castaneda-Arce's trial is scheduled to begin in October.

The bigger players pretty much went under the radar.

Prosecutors said they weren't surprised that most of the defendants who pleaded guilty to felony charges received little or no jail time. They said such outcomes are common in drug cases when defendants have no criminal history.

“First-time drug dealers are going to get probation,” Mosler said. “The system is designed to give people second chances.”

Mosler said he measures the success of the drug sweep not by prosecutions, but by whether it will deter drug dealers and users on campus. He said he hopes the effort will ultimately prevent more drug-related deaths.

“It's the message, and hopefully it resonates,” Mosler said. Obviously, SDSU is trying to send messages.

Still, it's pretty low-hanging fruit to go in and bust college students for a low amounts of drugs. Weak. There's no indication of a larger problem than at any other big college campus like San Diego State University, California.

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