While the bulk of drug use and distribution that happens on college campuses
is done by students and visitors to the school, faculty can sometimes play a
role as well. Whether using, selling, or both, many professors have gotten
caught up in illegal activities that have played a significant role in ending
their academic careers and landing them some serious jail time. Here, we’ve
featured just 10 professors who ended up on the wrong side of the law for
manufacturing, using, and selling drugs on campus or in their communities.
Contacts and sources:
Jasmine Hall
Professors Irina Kristy has been all over the news lately
for her involvement in drug scandal. Kristy has been teaching math at Boston
University and Suffolk University since the mid-eighties, but what her students
didn’t know about her was that in recent years she was also manufacturing and
selling methamphetamines with her son out of their home. Though quite old to be
dealing drugs at 74, legal experts say that isn’t likely to help the senior and
that she’ll likely live out the rest of her life in jail. A sad end for a woman
who spent years fighting the oppressive Soviet regime before moving to the US
with her son to escape the KGB. There is no word yet as to why Kristy was
selling drugs.
The secret drug-dealing, gang-leading life of Stephen Kinzey
sounds like something out of a movie script. A kinesiology professor at Cal
State San Bernardino, Kinzey had taught at the school for over a decade without
anyone knowing anything about his other, much darker side. Kinzey wasn’t just
making money as a professor, he was also a leader of a local Devils Diciples
motorcycle gang and was running a meth ring with his live-in girlfriend. Kinzey
was a favorite professor of students, a devoted father, and seemed to be on the
straight and narrow, but looks can be deceiving. He is now charged with drug
dealing, running a street gang, and possessing illegal firearms.
Drug dealing ended the career of CU-Boulder sociology
professor, Margaret Zamudio. In 2000, Zamudio was arrested for suspicion of
selling cocaine after she was caught in possession of illegal substances. She
alleged that she had been given the drugs at a faculty party, but police found
no evidence of this, but due to witness reliability issues and admissibility of
evidence, Zamudio was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of
possession of drug paraphernalia. Ironic, as one of her areas of study was drug
policy. It may have been Zamudio’s drug addiction, however, more than her
selling that led to her dismissal from the school, though she sued the
university over her dismissal, claiming it was on grounds of race. Sadly,
Zamudio’s drug use, in this case alcohol, led to her death in 2010, after she
fell while drunk and hit her head.
A PhD candidate and history professor at Loyola wouldn’t be
your first guess for a marijuana grower and distributor, but that’s just what
this Chicago-area academic found himself in hot water over after a bust by the
DEA found him to be part of a small growing operation in the suburb of Berwyn.
Police found 52 plants, $10,000 in cash, and 15 pounds of marijuana in Kralj’s
residence, surprising to many of his students and coworkers. A husband, father,
and fairly well-known musician, it’s unclear what motivation Kralj had to take
such a risk, but he may soon be facing jail time for the offense.
If there’s ever been a professor that is the essence of the
term “train wreck,” it might just be Philip Alan Barker. Barker taught
psychiatry at the University of Calgary and worked at the Alberta Children’s
Hospital throughout the eighties and nineties, and was at the time was doing
well as an author and child psychiatrist. Unfortunately, Barker also had a
serious drug problem and was in and out of rehab for almost a decade and faced
serious charges ranging from drug use, to DWI, to being caught with an underage
prostitute. In 2000, he was arrested for selling narcotics (crack cocaine) to
an undercover police officer. Barker’s life has spiraled downward since then,
as he is no longer allowed to practice medicine, he has gone bankrupt and has
been accused of a long list (which
you can read here) of offenses.
Perhaps to protect his privacy, no first name is given to
this drug-dealing professor in any documentation we can find online, though
perhaps foreign language records exist on the matter. Cha, a professor at a
prestigious Korean university, was caught making and selling illegal drugs. In
a real life Breaking Bad turn, this well-regarded chemistry
professor had every chemical he needed to manufacture designer drugs on hand,
which he then sold over the internet. Cha, who wasn’t especially well-paid as a
visiting professor, said he needed the money to help his girlfriend pay for her
college tuition.
In 2008, Villanova chemical engineering professor Edward
Ritter was busted for selling marijuana to undercover police officers. The
48-year-old professor allegedly sold drugs to the cops on two occasions and was
found to have 18 bags of marijuana in his home. The arrest shocked students and
associates alike, who couldn’t believe the Catholic university professor would
be involved in selling drugs.
Generally, selling drugs doesn’t just mean jail time, it
also means an end to a career as a professor. Paul Prosperino learned that the
hard way after he was found to have thousands of prescription pills in his home
which he was selling, as well as illegal firearms. A former professor of
computer science and economics, Prosperino hoped to use his drug money to help
out family members, but now faces up to 10 years in prison for his crimes.
Cancer researcher and professor of pharmacology at the
University of Tennessee, Asura has a lot of knowledge about how drugs affect
the body. That’s why, when he was busted in 2008 for selling meth, part of his
punishment was to write an essay on the dangers of methamphetamine use. Before
his criminal activities were revealed, Asura was a highly regarded professor
and researcher, but as he spiraled into drug addiction and peddling he
developed a violent and unpredictable alter ego known on the streets as “The
Professor.” Today, Asura is serving a three year sentence for his wrongdoings.
Unlike the other professors that populate this list, Clark
Freshman, a professor of law at UC Hastings, wasn’t actually selling any kind
of drugs. That didn’t stop police from raiding his penthouse apartment earlier
this year and placing Freshman in handcuffs, however. An expert in mediation
and law, a furious Freshman tried to resolve the situation and informed police
that their search was illegal, to no avail. Fortunately for Freshman, he was
correct and he is currently suing the DEA and SFPD for unlawful search and
seizure. The problem? The police had a warrant to search the building (they
believed someone in the building was growing marijuana, which they were, but it
wasn’t Freshman), but failed to distinguish between units.
Contacts and sources:
Jasmine Hall
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