Student Faces Drug Trafficking Charges After Drug Bust in Dorm

Living in a college dormitory is an unpleasant experience for most people. You might have to room with an intolerant neatnik or a stinky slob. No matter who the university matches you with, it is uncomfortable to share a small space with someone who, until a few weeks ago, was a complete stranger. There are ways of making dorm life more bearable; students whose parents live within commuting distance go home every weekend to wash their laundry in their childhood home instead of competing with everyone else in the building for washing machine space.  Psychoactive drugs are another popular means for surviving dorm life. Every dorm has at least a few residents who rarely speak but who always travel in a cloud of pot smoke; this has been the case for decades. If you can be the kid who supplies drugs for the whole building, you are on top of the world, at least until the police show up. Times have changed, and the kid who supplies the whole dorm with weed has become the kid that supplies the whole dorm with pills that may or may not be fentanyl. If you are facing charges for selling drugs on a university campus, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.

College Dormitories Are a Drug-Free Zone

You can face serious legal penalties if you sell controlled substances to an undercover officer no matter where the transaction takes place, but enhanced penalties apply if it happens in a legally designated drug free zone. Universities, including their residential buildings, count as drug free zones.

During final exams week in the Fall 2025 semester, an undercover Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office deputy went to a student housing building on the Florida Atlantic University campus to buy Percocet pills from a student who lived in the building; they had exchanged text messages about it and arranged to meet. The student gave the pills to the undercover deputy, who paid for it in pre-recorded buy money, meaning that the deputy had made photocopies of the bank notes and entered the photocopies as evidence at the Sheriff’s office.

After the transaction was complete, deputies arrested the student. Prosecutors wanted to hold him without bail, but the court rejected this request and set his bail at $100,000. The student pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges. The charge carries a long prison sentence, especially for defendants convicted at trial. The student may be able to avoid this fate, though, since he is only 19 years old. Pursuant to Florida’s Youthful Offender Act, defendants who are younger than 21 at the time of their arrest can only receive sentences of six years or less, including incarceration and probation, for all except the most serious crimes.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing drug charges in connection to an incident in or near a university.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

upressonline.com/2025/12/fau-student-charged-with-trafficking-fentanyl-after-undercover-drug-operation-at-student-housing/