Ex-Wesleyan Student Pleads Guilty in Drug Overdose Case

A former Wesleyan University student has pleaded guilty to distributing drugs involved in a rash of on-campus overdoses earlier this year.

Twenty-three-year-old Eric Lonergan, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in New Haven to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the party drug MDMA, also known as Molly.

Another former student who also faced federal charges, Zachary Kramer of Bethesda, Maryland, has previously pleaded guilty to the same charge. Prosecutors are recommending at least one year in prison for Kramer.

Prosecutors say Lonergan and Kramer sold the drug on the Middletown, Connecticut campus for more than a year. Eleven people were hospitalized with overdoses last February, including one who nearly died.