<p>Wednesday, September 5, 2007
For two Northeastern freshmen, school year begins and ends with arrest
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff </p>
<p>A pair of freshmen at Northeastern University learned a tough lesson before classes even started this semester, when one of them allegedly leaned out the window of his dormitory and yelled something regrettable in earshot of plainclothes police officers. </p>
<p>"If you're looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale," Michael R. Emery yelled, according to a release issued today by the Suffolk district attorney's office. </p>
<p>The sales pitch, made Sunday to a fellow student out a second-floor window at the Hemenway Street residence hall, got Emery, 18, and his roommate, Matthew J. Ferrante, 18, in a lot of trouble. After their room was searched and officers found a bevy of marijuana, smoking accessories and liquor, the pair was arrested, arraigned, and apparently thrown out of school. </p>
<p>"I can tell you that they are no longer students here at Northeastern," said Laura Shea, a school spokeswoman, who declined to comment further. </p>
<p>According to the release from prosecutors, police went to the second floor of the dormitory after hearing Emery yell and found the door open. In plain view was a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, a shot glass, and a plastic baggie of marijuana. The officers knocked and identified themselves to Emery, of Haverhill, and Ferrante, of North Andover.</p>
<p>As they spoke to the teens, police spotted another bag of marijuana and a glass pipe. The officers read the students their rights and received permission to search the room, according to the release. The search yielded eight small bags of marijuana, a larger bag containing three to four ounces of marijuana, hundreds of clear plastic baggies, and a Triton T2 digital scale. The officers also found a grinder, a bong, $1,045 in cash, bottles of Malibu rum, Smirnoff Twist raspberry vodka, and Southern Comfort, and a vaporizer, a device that uses heat to release marijuana's intoxicating chemicals but does not burn the plant.</p>
<p>Outside the window of their room, the students had rigged a pulley system that had been designed to raise and lower items from the room directly overhead. It was not immediately how the students were using the pulley system, prosecutors said. </p>
<p>Emery and Ferrante were arraigned Tuesday in Roxbury District Court and charged with possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute in a school zone, possession of alcohol by a minor, and conspiracy to violate the state's drug laws. The teens were released without bail and are scheduled to return to court Oct. 24. </p>
<p>A message left at Emery's parents home was not returned. Reached by phone today at his parents home in North Andover, Ferrante said: "I do not want to talk about it." </p>
<p>Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 07:02 PM</p>