Photo Illustration by Saul Loeb and Kevin Klaus/Arizona Daily Wildcat
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By Devin Simmons
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday January 31, 2003
Six UA female students had unknown pills slipped into their drinks last Friday night at Palm Shadows Apartments, according to a University of Arizona police report.
All names have been withheld from this report in order not to disrupt an ongoing investigation.
One of the women, a Palm Shadows resident, agreed to have a few drinks with her neighbor, his two other friends and the five other women who reported the incident. The three men, two of them UA students, are the investigative leads in the case, reports stated.
They all gathered in the female resident's room after the men purchased six bottles of champagne with an illegal ID.
The women were having a hard time opening the bottles and asked the men if they would help, reports stated.
Two of the men took three bottles to their room, and after several minutes, returned with the opened champagne bottles. The women poured two glasses of champagne and began drinking them, reports stated.
One of the women noticed several small pills in the bottom of both glasses. Further investigation revealed that there were several more pills "fizzing" in the bottom of the opened champagne bottles. After making this discovery the women poured out the rest of the champagne and proceeded to confront the three men about them, reports stated.
The men initially denied putting the pills in the bottles, but later said, "We were just trying to have some fun!" reports stated.
One of the three men declined to comment on the incident, except to deny that anything illegal happened.
A few of the women took the other bottles of champagne outside of their room to inspect them and were caught by a resident assistant. The RA made them empty and throw away the bottles, bringing the party to an end, and causing the men to leave, reports stated.
The next day the women filed a police report with the UAPD stating that they were very concerned as to what kind of pills they were drinking and wanted to press charges against whoever it was that tried to "drug" them. All of the girls believe that one or all of the men they were with the previous night had put the pills in the champagne, reports stated.
When UA officers confronted the three men about the allegations, the men got upset, denying that they had any knowledge of the pills, reports stated.
Three of the women declined to comment about the incident.
However, one of the women did say that she was meeting with investigators and characterized the incident as a "scary situation."
The officers collected two white, partially dissolved pills that the girls had saved and sent them to the Department of Public Safety labs to be tested. The results of the test will not be known for at least a week or more, according to UAPD Commander Kevin Haywood.
Detective Rolf Averill, who is investigating the case, declined to comment on any specific details.
"It is important when investigating that we don't make any assumptions," Averill said. "It is best to find out the truth first, because what is being alleged here is a very serious and dangerous thing."