"Dorm-room chemist" pleads guilty in college drug overdoses

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A former Wesleyan University student pleaded guilty Monday to distributing drugs involved in a rash of on-campus overdoses.

Eric Lonergan, 23, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pleaded guilty in federal court in New Haven to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the party drug MDMA, also known as Molly.

Prosecutors say Lonergan regularly sold the drug from his dorm room and counseled students on how to ingest it and other psychedelic drugs.

"Wesleyan students who bought these drugs from this dorm-room chemist literally risked their lives by relying on his purported expertise," said Deirdre Daly, Connecticut's top U.S. prosecutor.

Lonergan is one of two former students to face federal criminal charges in the scare at Wesleyan during a weekend in February, when 11 people were hospitalized, including one person who nearly died.

Zachary Kramer of Bethesda, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge as Lonergan. Prosecutors are recommending at least one year in prison for Kramer.

Prosecutors say Lonergan and Kramer sold the drug on the Middletown campus for more than a year.

At one point in 2014, after Wesleyan administrators warned students about ingesting controlled substances like Molly, prosecutors say, Lonergan distributed a pamphlet with instructions for students on how to use psychedelic drugs.