NEWS UPDATE: May 7, 2008

The amount and type of drugs seized at San Diego State University college included the following:

50: Pounds of marijuana

4: Pounds of cocaine

3: Semiautomatic handguns

1: Shotgun

48: Marijuana plants

350: Ecstasy pills

30: Vials of hash oil

$60,000: Cash

San Diego Drug Crime Lawyer Kerry Steigerwalt comments on the bust:

Steigerwalt said if prosecutors can show that some of the individuals arrested were associated with that gang member, Omar Castaneda, those individuals could find themselves charged with gang crimes. “Under the gang statute, they don’t have to be members of the gang. All they have to do is be in close association with a gang member who is participating in activity to ultimately benefit the gang,” Steigerwalt said. “I gotta tell you, it would not surprise me if gang enhancements are charged.”

Steigerwalt said in order to brand the university fraternities as street gangs, prosecutors would have to show that their alleged criminal activity benefited the fraternity as an organization. That would mean prosecutors have to prove some of the money raised in the alleged drug dealing went to pay fraternity costs, like rent on a fraternity house or paying for parties or fraternity trips, Steigerwalt said.

Kerry Steigerwalt, is the senior managing partner of Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center in La Jolla.

The Criminal Defense website is: http://www.sddefenselawyers.com