Nearly three dozen people were indicted Thursday for what federal prosecutors say was a ring that supplied about $17 million worth of ”high-grade” drugs to customers, including marijuana to members of last year’s University of Kansas basketball team.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for Kansas said the 101-count indictment involves 35 defendants, most of them from Kansas. The defendants supplied marijuana and cocaine to residents in Johnson and Douglas counties, prosecutors said.
At a hearing last month, assistant U.S. attorney Terra Moorhead said one of the defendants, a 32-year-old Overland Park man, supplied marijuana to multiple members of the Jayhawks’ 2010-11 basketball squad. The university would not comment on the case then and officials with the school did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Thursday.
The university said then that its internal drug-testing policy requires all freshman or new transfer student athletes to take a drug test ”within a reasonable amount of time” after arriving on campus. All teams that qualify for postseason play also may be subject to testing.
The indictment stemmed from an original federal complaint filed in June that accused 25 people and included only one count. The new charges include conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilos of marijuana, conspiracy to commit money laundering and unlawful possession of firearms.
