The Western Portage County Drug Task Force and the Kent State Police Department have been working undercover all year to buy drugs on campus and have started making arrests.

“We don’t try to find someone who is just smoking a little weed; we’re looking for the dealers,” said Lt. William Shanafelt of the Kent State Police, who is also in charge of the drug task force. “A lot of violence can result from marijuana.”

Police arrested freshman exploratory major Daniel G. Foglio, in his third-floor room in Altmann Hall around 7:30 a.m. Friday, Shanafelt said.

Foglio, 18, who is from Ashtabula, was arrested on a warrant issued for two counts of trafficking marijuana after selling drugs out of Altmann Hall to an undercover police officer on two separate occasions, Shanafelt said. He was also charged with one count of possessing criminal tools after police found an electronic scale used for weighing marijuana.

Police took Foglio to the Portage County Justice Center, Shanafelt said.

Foglio will be arraigned on May 16 and is being held on $20,000 bond, according to court records.

“This is just one of the arrests that will be happening before everyone gets away from us at the end of the school year,” Shanafelt said.

Another warrant for arrest has been issued for a Harbourt Hall resident from Illinois, said Scott Rainone, assistant director of media relations for the university. This individual, who has not been named, has been charged with two counts of trafficking marijuana.

“Police did not say when the arrest would be made,” Rainone said. “It is just part of an investigation several months long by the drug task force.”

Shanafelt, who has been with the Task Force for 10 years, said some years he has made more than 20 arrests on campus. The majority of arrests are of dealers off campus.

“The residence hall staff does a good job of keeping drugs out of the dorms,” Shanafelt said. “But you can buy a lot of stuff on campus.”

Marijuana is the most common drug found at the university, Shanafelt said, but he has also found cocaine, LSD, mushrooms and methamphetamines.

Contact safety reporter Sean Joseph at [email protected].