Electric Zoo Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty

At the Electric Zoo music festival that took place on August of 2014 a young man, Jeffry Russ, died of an overdose. At the music festival Patrick Morgan, twenty-four, sold eighty pills of the drug “Molly” to a friend who then distributed the drug to the attendees.

Russ’s tragic death was, thankfully, the only reported death caused by Morgan’s stash. On Thursday, December 11, Morgan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute MDMA. The charge, however, does not cover the death of Mr. Russ that was caused by Mr. Morgan. No official testing has been conducted to determine the actual contents of the pills that were sold although it is speculated that they may have contained piperazines.

The guidelines for the sentencing require five to sixteen months in prison with the maximum possible sentence being twenty years. The judge presiding over the case, Edgardo Ramos, will give his final sentencing on Friday, March 13 of next year.

Jeffrey Russ’s death was not the only controversy that took place at the Electric Zoo concert that caused headlines. Twenty year-old Olivia Rotondo also died of an overdose that was allegedly from a bad batch of Molly. Four other attendees were treated for what appeared to be overdoses. Thirty-one others were arrested on drug related charges during the first two days of the music festival alone. Additionally, a sixteen year-old girl was sexually assaulted, which led to the early closure of the event.