PHOENIX (AP) – A mother’s tip to a police drug force helped put at least 10 dealers behind bars for peddling Ecstasy to teenagers and college students, police said.

The unidentified woman’s call to the Maricopa County Methamphetamine Task Force last week helped detectives find the drug ring, which was coordinated and advertised through the social networking Web site MySpace, sheriff’s deputy Lt. Steve Bailey said.

At least 10 of the dealers were arrested by Tuesday.

Bailey said the woman looked at her 17-year-old son’s Internet activity and realized he was probably purchasing a drug. Investigators said the seller’s MySpace profile included a price list and product review.

“She figured out it was Ecstacy, and put that together with how he was acting, lethargic and spacey, and called us,” he said.

Detectives said they were able to buy the drug from dealers in Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe and Fountain Hills in parks, restaurants and other public places. They said they purchased more than 200 hits in their investigation and that the sellers had a combined client list of nearly 500 area high school and college students.



Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

AP-ES-05-06-09 1807EDT


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