A University of Nebraska-Lincoln freshman was arrested for selling marijuana in Abel Hall on Nov. 12, police said.
Matthew Grabow, a freshman general studies major, is the first student to be arrested for possession with intent to deliver in the last four years.
It was a Friday night near midnight and police received a call from a resident assistant in Abel who smelled marijuana.
Carl Oestmann, director of patrol operations for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department, said officers determined that a room on the fifth floor, a room that Grabow doesn't live in, was where the smell was coming from.
Anthony Ravenstahl, a freshman business major who lived in the room, said there were five people hanging out in his room, and he opened the door to six police officers who smelled marijuana.
He consented to a search of his room, and police confiscated a bottle of alcohol and enough materials to assume that someone was not only smoking, but also dealing drugs.
Oestmann said police confiscated four plastic bags of marijuana totaling 13 grams, $850, a scale, some plastic containers and a box of clear plastic bags.
While questioning the students, police said Grabow admitted the materials were his.
Grabow then asked for a lawyer and was taken to the Lancaster County Corrections Facility, where he was issued the citation.
Ravenstahl took responsibility for the bottle and was charged with minor in possession of alcohol. He was the only other student cited.
Ravenstahl said he has been friends with Grabow since before high school.
"My parents know him. No one thinks of him as a horrible guy," Ravenstahl said. "It's just a bad situation."
A student who lives in Abel and didn't want to be named said he has bought marijuana from Grabow in the dorm and considers him a friend.
He described Grabow as a "small-time" dealer.
According to university police records, Grabow is the fourth person and first student since Jan. 1, 2005, to be arrested for possession with intent to deliver.
The last dealer UNL police arrested was Larry Brown, a 57-year-old man who, on Nov. 11, 2008, police found with 127.4 grams of marijuana in the Nebraska Union.
But despite his arrest last week, a search of current Lancaster County court cases doesn't list Grabow as a person with a current case.
When Grabow was contacted by the Daily Nebraskan on Sunday, he said he received a phone call last week from Eric Miller, a Lancaster County attorney.
He told Grabow that the district attorney's office wouldn't be prosecuting and was going to drop all charges without prejudice, Grabow said.
"He didn't tell me why," said Grabow, who never hired legal representation. "But I'm relieved."
No one in the Lancaster County attorney's office was available for comment on Sunday.
Grabow will still likely have hearings with UNL's judiciary affairs committee.
Selling controlled substances carries a minimum sanction of a suspension and could result in an expulsion, said Matt Hecker, the dean of students at UNL.
"The penalty for possessing drugs is linked to the type of drug and/or the quantity," Hecker said in an e-mail.
Hecker said the student disciplinary process can operate separate from criminal proceedings.
"I'm anxious to hear from the accused student," Hecker said.
"The student is always entitled to present their side of the story before we make any kind of determination."
RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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