Resident in dorm arrested for pot with intent to sell

By Angela Lingg

Darrel Adams, lead residence hall supervisor, and Steve Dunmire, lead security officer, knocked on the door of an HCC student’s dorm room on Oct. 23.

The two men asked the 20-year-old man to step into the hall.

A pungent odor in the air left little doubt in the Dunmire’s mind that there was processed marijuana in the room.

An anonymous tip, through HCC’s tip-line, had alerted campus security of this case of illegal possession of drugs in the dorm.

Campus officials immediately took action and investigated.

They were told the student kept the drugs in a backpack that he took with him wherever he went. The bag was found in his room.

“I picked up the bag and opened it up,” Dunmire said. “The odor was really strong.”

After finding a substantial quantity of marijuana, they called Hutchinson police.

Minutes later, police officers arrived and took the student and the drugs into custody.

The student appeared before a judge on Oct. 26, and was informed of the charges he will be facing in court.

The charges included possession of marijuana with intent to distribute within a thousand feet of a school. The student was scheduled to be in court Nov. 2, where he would be read formal charges.

But on that day, court officials said the hearing had been postponed.

Incidents like this typically result in immediate eviction from the dorms and possibly from the college.

A drug felony conviction will also effect a student’s financial aid at the present and in the future.

“When you are receiving financial aid… and you are convicted of a drug felony, you do not receive federal aid,” said Sandy Ball, financial aid clerk.

“If you get kicked out of the college there is a percentage (of aid) that you have to pay back.”

If students see or are aware of illegal activities at the dorm, but are afraid to report the incident, they can alert campus security via an online anonymous tip system.

“If there is stuff going on, I want students to feel safe,” Dunmire said. “The tips work really well — and that way they remain anonymous.”

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