Guilty plea entered in UNLV raid case

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

A former UNLV student, charged with two felony counts stemming from a high-profile school police drug raid, pleaded guilty today to a single misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.

As part of a plea bargain, Graig Adler paid a $1,000 fine during his appearance before Justice of the Peace James Bixler, who dismissed the felony charges.

After the hearing that took about one minute, Adler, who did not enroll for fall classes, said he was looking for a job while he considered his college options. He wants to put the matter behind him and get on with his life, his attorney John Moran Jr., said.

Adler also said that despite authorities identifying him as being 19 years old, he was 18 at the time of his arrest and won't turn 19 until late November.

Adler was charged in the March 9 UNLV Police raid on Boyd Hall -- an incident that has come under fire because a state police report found that the university and its police force violated policies and because UNLV has refused to release the report.

The raid netted just four tablets of the drug Ecstasy and a small amount of marijuana. The officers also found 18 baggies of what they thought was opium, but turned out to be talcum powder.

Moran had demanded the voluminous report by the Nevada Division of Investigation to prepare his defense. With the plea bargain, that request has become moot.

Asked if he believes the district attorney's office offered the plea to avoid the report becoming public, Moran said, "I believe they made the offer because it was the right thing to do because the evidence did not support felony charges.

"Police found the Ecstasy tablets in a roommate's drawer and the marijuana that was found in the room was residue in a bong pipe. This just was not a felony case."

In August, the district attorney's office filed felony possession of marijuana and felony possession of Ecstasy charges against Adler.

Ron Cuzze, president of the State Peace Officers Council and one of the raiding UNLV officers, said the plea bargain does not surprise him.

"Knowing that Nevada's courts are backed up, I have no problem with it," he said. "But if it sends a message that you can use drugs on campus and get away with it, that's a problem. I would caution the justice system in high-profile cases not to be lenient because of outside pressures."

UNLV officials declined to comment on the plea bargain, confirming only that Adler did not enroll for fall classes. He was listed as a freshman when he attended UNLV last spring.

Moran said that Adler has "taken a hiatus" from UNLV because the incident and subsequent publicity "has left deep marks on him."