Columbia University’s sheltered fraternity row on West 114th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway was tense Tuesday, after New York City police staged a dawn raid to arrest five undergraduate students on charges that they sold ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, LSD and Adderall from several fraternity houses and campus dorms.

Columbia frat boys shielded themselves from reporters as they entered the Alpha Epsilon Pi brownstone on West 114th Street. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan.

Along fraternity row, students rushed down the street, covered their faces with hoods and turned away or even cursed at reporters swarming outside the brownstone fraternity houses. As a Channel 2 news crew filmed outside one house, residents inside lowered all the blinds.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said undergraduate student Mark Holloway of the drug bust.

“I want to feel bad for the kids. People here are smart,” said Columbia junior Lew Bibler, 20, who lives near the frat houses, reflecting the somber reaction of many students at the news swirled around campus. “I’m sure they’re good kids. College is expensive.”

The arrests marked the climax of “Operation Ivy League,” a five-month undercover narcotics investigation, in which police say they made 31 drug buys totaling $11,000 from Columbia students at Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Psi Upsilon fraternities, as well as the Intercultural House and East Campus dorms.

Harrison David, 20, faces the most serious charges of the five students for his sale of cocaine, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

The arrested students, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Chris Coles and Jose Stephan Perez, all 20; and Michael Wymbs, 22, were arraigned this afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court. All five pleaded not guilty, and bail was set for each. The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said Wymbs was released quickly when his parents arrived with a cashier’s check to post bail. The office said the other students would be sent to Riker’s Island jail Tuesday night if bail was not paid.

The operation also led to arrests of three people who police say supplied the students with drugs to sell on campus: Roberto Lagares, Megan Asper and Miron Sarzynski,. Sarzynski faces additional charges of plotting to kidnap a pair of rival cocaine traffickers.

Police said that in searching the five Columbia students’ rooms this morning, they found a bottle of LSD, 50 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, 15 Adderall pills, more than half a pound of marijuana and approximately $2,000 cash.

New York City Police Detective Stephen Arienta said that Coles, who is charged with selling marijuana, told arresting officers this morning “I just sell it to pay tuition.” Arienta said David told the officers “Why do you think I have to do this,” that his father  “won’t pay my tuition.”

Adam Klein, 20, is accused of selling Altoids laced with LSD. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

Intelligence from other investigations and some community complaints called into Crimestoppers led to the initial investigation, said Kati Cornell of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. Cornell said that Operation Ivy League began with an investigation of David. A young undercover officer posed as a would-be distributor who wanted to sell drugs at another school outside of New York City. David referred the undercover officer to the other students, who also supplied the officer with drugs, according to Cornell.

An acquaintance of David, who declined to be identified, described him as a “low-key guy, subdued in a pothead kind of way.”

Another student who asked not to be identified said he knew Mike Wymbs as “a normal, likeble guy. The fact that he is very much a conventional Columbia kid who was probably preparing for finals when this happened underscores just how surreal the bust is.” Wymbs was also the former vice president of the School of Engineering’s student council.

Few students expressed surprise to hear of a campus drug bust. “It was common knowledge,” said Ashley, a resident of East Campus, of the students’ drug dealing on campus. “That’s gonna happen at any school.”

Columbia University reacted to the arrests with an official statement, noting that “the alleged behavior of the students involved in this incident goes against not only state and federal law, but also University policy and the principles we have set – and strive together to maintain – for our community.”

Jose Stephan Perez, a.k.a. Stephan Vincenzo, 20, one of the arrested, was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Photo courtesy of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Police said they arrested Lagares, one of the alleged drug suppliers, on Sunday afternoon in Bedford Stuyvesant. Sarzysnski and Asper were arrested on Oct. 27 in the East Village. Sarzynski had sold cocaine, LSD and DMT to undercover officers on multiple occasions and manufactured drugs in his apartment with the help of Asper, his girlfriend, according to the police charges.

Police said Sarzynski also attempted to hire an undercover policeman to kidnap rival cocaine traffickers whom he believed had stolen money from him. According to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, Sarzynski told the undercover officer that he would shock the victims with a stun gun, hit them in the head and rob them. Police said he said, “Then I would have done something nasty like put a few drops of acid in his mouth and then leave him there.” Sarzynski also told the officer to kill the victims if no ransom money was provided.

“An ominous aspect of this investigation was the involvement of college students in the violent drug dealing business,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “The students arrested today supplied dangerous substances to their friends and other students to turn a quick profit, but subjected themselves to risks, of which they were either ignorant or in denial. These students were playing with fire.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly added, “The fact that a supplier to Columbia students was willing to kill his rivals should demolish any argument that drugs on campus is a victimless crime. This is no way to work your way through college.”