Updated at 12:13 a.m. on Jan. 12.
Three men arrested during a December drug sweep are no longer enrolled at the university, according to the Office of Communications.
Lisa Albert, director of communications at the university, wrote in an e-mail that she cannot share specific details about why the men – Timothy Hand, Cameron Abelson and David Harrell – are no longer students.
Harrell and Hand wrote in separate e-mails that they chose to leave the university. Abelson’s circumstances are unclear.
Police arrested the three men, all age 19, during a drug sweep Dec. 14.
Hand has been charged with a felony after selling 23 grams of marijuana – about four-fifths of an ounce – to an undercover police agent on three different occasions, according to court records.
Hand faces charges of delivery of marijuana between one-quarter ounce and 5 pounds, a state jail felony, as well as possession of marijuana under 2 ounces and delivery of marijuana without remuneration, class B misdemeanor offenses, according to court records. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is pursuing two cases of delivery of marijuana against Hand, court records show.
On Oct. 29, a confidential informant contacted police to report that Hand was selling hydroponic marijuana – marijuana grown without soil – from his dorm room in Martin-Moore Hall in Worth Hills, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
On that same date, an undercover agent went to Hand’s dorm room and asked to buy 8 grams of marijuana, according to the affidavit.
Hand sold the agent the amount for $140 and handed him a plastic baggy containing a green leafy substance, according to the affidavit. An analysis from the Fort Worth Police Crime Lab revealed that the substance was marijuana, according to the affidavit.
On Nov. 12, the undercover agent made contact with Hand and bought 6.98 grams of marijuana, according to a second affidavit.
On a third date, Dec. 9, the undercover agent bought another 7.83 grams of marijuana from Hand, with the transaction taking place inside the agent’s vehicle, which was parked in front of Martin-Moore Hall, according to the affidavit.
Hand has not been indicted on either felony case as of Monday afternoon, according to the District Attorney’s Office. His next court date has not been set, according to the office.
The affidavit and a police announcement about the drug bust give a conflicting version of the amount of marijuana seized from Hand. According to the latter, police seized 2 ounces of marijuana from Hand. An attempt to get an explanation about the discrepancy before press time was unsuccessful.
Hand declined an interview with the Skiff, and his attorney did not reply to a call and an e-mail requesting comment.
Harrell, who was arrested in his residence at the GrandMarc, faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana under 2 ounces. He referred questions to his attorney, who could not be reached for comment.
According to a December police incident report, Abelson was arrested on suspicion of delivery of marijuana and possession of marijuana at his residence in the Berkeley Apartments on Park Hill Drive. However, he has been charged only with possession of marijuana under 2 ounces, court records show.
Abelson did not reply to an e-mail requesting comment.
The drug sweep was a joint operation between TCU Police and Fort Worth Police in mid-December that resulted in the arrest of the three former TCU students, an alumnus and at least three other men and the seizure of 7 pounds of marijuana, prescription medication, $20,000 in cash and three weapons, including an AK-47 rifle and a handgun with obliterated serial numbers, police said.
Tom Little, a 2008 TCU graduate, faces a felony charge of delivery of marijuana between one-quarter ounce and 5 pounds, according to court records.
