A Columbia student was arrested on April 2 after his Venmo record revealed he had been using the service to accept payments for drug sales, reports Capital New York.
According to a student, Michael Getzler, the alleged dealer, required the Venmo transaction descriptions "to be funny." Payments to his account included descriptions such as "Halal or something funny," "Kale salad" and "Snoop Dogg's shizzle."
Two days before the arrest, an anonymous op-ed titled "Confessions of a departing dealer," ran in the Columbia Spectator and was rumored to have been written by Getzler. In the op-ed piece, the writer explained that he had been selling drugs during the week leading up to Bacchanal, Columbia's annual concert, which took place April 4. "Weed, edibles, MDMA, coke — I have sold all of these over the past week, in staggering amounts. Several hundred students (and I would call that a conservative estimate) will be smoking my weed this Saturday," it read.
Getzler has been charged with "current possession of a controlled substance in the third and fifth degrees" as well as with "unlawful posession of marijuana," among other charges.
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