Jose Stephan Perez (right) and Michael Wymbs are accused of selling drugs at Columbia.
Lawyers for an alleged cartel of
Columbia students busted for campus drug dealing complained Tuesday a judge was picking on their clients because they are Ivy Leaguers.
They began carping after
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Sonberg denied the requests of three students to have their cases shifted to a court supervised rehab program - rather than face a criminal trial.
"He was treated differently because of who he was," attorney
Michael Bachner said of accused student
Michael Wymbs, 21, the son of a
Baruch College professor.
The lawyer for another
Ivy League washout,
Jose Stephan Perez, 20, said his client also got a raw deal from Sonberg.
"I think it's unfair that he's getting different treatment," attorney
Peter Frankel.
Wymbs, Perez and three other students were busted in December as part of
Operation Ivy League for dealing $11,000 worth of coke, pot, Ecstasy and LSD out of frat houses and dorms.
Ringleader Harrison David pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail in August.
Wymbs, Perez and two other geniuses,
Adam Klein, 21, and
Christopher Coles, 21, all petitioned to have their cases moved to drug court.
If accepted, they would have had their records wiped clean upon successfully completing a drug treatment program.
Sonberg on Tuesday approved only Coles' petition, apparently because he only sold pot, his lawyer,
Marc Agnifilo, said.
"He sold a fairly large amount, but the government played a role in luring \[him\] into selling more and more," Agnifilo insisted.
Klein, by comparison, had
Altoids laced with liquid LSD in his room at the
Psi Upsilon fraternity, police said.
Sonberg's ruling means Wymbs, Perez and Klein - all out on bail - now have to decide whether to take their chances in criminal court on Nov. 15 or plead guilty to a felony and serve five years of probation.
They have been reluctant to accept that deal, even though it means avoiding jail, because they would have police records - and black marks on their resumes.