A drug case against a William & Mary student is set to move to a higher court after a hearing last week.
Keegan Paugh, 22, was one of ten people — eight students, a dining services employee and a visiting professor — arrested in a drug distribution investigation in April, police said.
On June 28, a judge certified three charges against Paugh, including one count of sale and/or distribution of marijuana and two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance, to a higher court during a preliminary hearing in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court.
The case will now head to Circuit Court, where felony cases are heard.
Several charges against Paugh were also dropped last week, including one count of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school, three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of marijuana possession.
Williamsburg Police conducted a monthslong investigation into drug distribution at William & Mary last winter and spring after receiving reports of sexual assaults at local parties.
The investigation dates as far back as Dec. 7, although most criminal complaints against the students and university employees cite alleged offenses in February, March and April 2018.
Through the investigation, police used at least one confidential informant to purchase drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, LSD, steroids and amphetamines in rooms either in campus housing or near campus, including at Brown and Barrett halls.
About $14,000 in cash also was recovered from one suspect’s residence, police said.
Three of the students arrested were on the dean’s list for the 2017 fall semester, according to the William & Mary website.
Those arrested in the drug investigation include:
- Shannon Cannaday, 20, Leesburg: one count of felony distribution of marijuana and one count of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Alexander Patrick Foley, 20, Bel Air, Maryland: one count of distribution of a Schedule II drug and one count of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Nicolas George Manuel, 22, Arlington: one count of distribution of a Schedule I drug and one count of selling drugs with 1,000 feet of a school.
- Daniel Jacob McBride, 20, Williamsburg: two counts of distribution of a schedule II drug and two counts of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Devin Moore, 20, Springfield: five counts of distribution of a Schedule I drug, two counts of distribution of a Schedule II drug and five counts of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Keegan Paugh, 22, Rapid City, SD: one count of marijuana distribution, one count of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school, four counts of possession of a Schedule II drug, one count of possession of a Schedule III drug and one count of marijuana possession.
- Jacob Selmonosky, 18, Falls Church: two counts of distribution of Schedule II drug and two counts of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Bilol Mirganiev (Biloliddin Tulamirza), 18, Falls Church: one count of felony distribution of marijuana and 1 county of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
- Timothy Tyrone Pryor, 27, Williamsburg: one count of felony distribution of marijuana.
- Gi Sang Yoon, 40, Williamsburg: two counts of felony distribution of marijuana and one count of possession of hashish.
Yoon, a 40-year-old visiting professor of immunology in the biology department, is scheduled for a hearing at 2 p.m. July 10 in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court.
Selmonosky is set for a hearing at 1 p.m. July 17 in the district court.
Cannaday, Foley, Manuel, McBride, Moore, Mirganiev and Pryor are scheduled for hearings at 2 p.m. Aug. 9 in district court.
