JOLIET, Ill. -- Scandal jolted Joliet Catholic Academy on Wednesday as police pulled five students from class and charged them with running a teenage drug ring. A total of 14 people are wanted on drug-dealing charges following a four-month investigation, and nine of them were arrested Wednesday, police said.
The probe, dubbed "Operation After School Special" after the ABC television series, was intended to last until the end of the school year. But a number of dangerous nonfatal overdoses and an influx of high-grade heroin prompted police to pounce on the suspects at once.
"Although we know there were several additional persons involved, I felt we needed to end the active investigation to reduce the risk of a potential tragedy," Police Chief David Gerdes said. "Even though the undercover portion of the investigation is over, the follow-up of this operation will continue and additional arrests are probable."
NBC5's Natalie Martinez reported that the arrests on Wednesday came just prior to the Easter holiday weekend, when police knew there were many parties planned.
Eight of the 14 who were charged with dealing cocaine, heroin and ecstasy --including the suspect police say is the ringleader -- are students at Joliet Catholic.
The young man police tabbed as the mastermind, 17-year-old David Caiafa, a sophomore honor student last year, was charged with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance. He remains in custody at the county jail in lieu of $600,000 bond.
Other JCA students charged Wednesday were Benjamin Dilday, 17; Phil Kelly, 18; and two unidentified juveniles 15 and 16. The 15-year-old was released to his parents' custody, and the 16-year-old was taken to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center. Dilday and Kelly both were taken to the county jail.
Other youths arrested Wednesday were 18-year-olds Stephanie Smid, Jacob Wassner, Alexander Bulanda and Justin Iemole. All four were booked into the county jail.
Operation After School Special started with JCA students and then led to the other teens, Gerdes said. An undercover Morris police officer, reportedly a youthful-looking woman, was enlisted for the investigation, and hand-to-hand drug buys reportedly were made from the teens.
The first of these undercover drug buys took place in the JCA parking lot in January, Gerdes said.
"They primarily purchased powder cocaine. There was some ecstasy purchased," Gerdes said. "There was no heroin purchased, but we became aware toward the end of this operation that there was heroin available."
"I figured it would be mainly marijuana or something like that, but not heroin," said parent Jason Hartell.
Laura Mims, the mother of a JCA student, said, "People don't understand that it happens everywhere, not just public schools, but everywhere."
JCA Principal Jeffrey Budz said he and his staff are assisting police in the investigation. He said the ongoing investigation precluded him from commenting on whether he was aware police planned to arrest students prior to the arrival of officers at JCA on Wednesday. For the same reason, he declined to say when he became aware of the investigation.
School officials issued a statement saying, in part, "We here at Joliet Catholic Academy strive to insure a safe building and school atmosphere for our students, and we know that our students' education is and always will be out number one priority."
Gerdes said five more teens wanted in connection with the investigation, three of whom are JCA students, remain at large.
In addition, Gerdes said, "there is a case pending against a prominent (JCA) football player who may or may not be charged because of previous incidents."
Nicholas Metzger, an 18-year-old JCA senior defensive lineman bound for St. Anselm College, an NCAA Division II school near Manchester, N.H., was arrested in early March and jailed on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of cannabis. Metzger was causing a disturbance on the far West Side, and a subsequent search of his car turned up ecstasy pills and small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, police said at the time.
Gerdes would neither confirm nor deny whether Metzger was the JCA football player under scrutiny during the investigation.
