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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Former Law Professor Arrested on Drug Charges

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY Former adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center Jack Vitayanon was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs.
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Former adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center Jack Vitayanon was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs.

A former adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, Jack Vitayanon, was arrested and charged with conspiring to distribute illegal drugs Wednesday.

Vitayanon, an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility, is accused of attempting to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamines in Arizona and New York. Federal prosecutors also alleged Vitayanon participated in a drug trafficking ring in both states from September 2014 to January of this year, according to a criminal complaint filed against him in a Brooklyn court.

An ethics instructor at GULC, Vitayanon’s public profile on the school’s website was pulled down following his arrest.

Mimi Koumanelis, executive director of communications for GULC, said Vitayanon is no longer a professor at the university.

“He is not employed by Georgetown,” Koumanelis wrote in an email to The Hoya. “He was on contract to teach a course in the fall of 2016, but is no longer affiliated with the University.”

Robert Capers, U.S. attorney for New York’s eastern district, released a statement on the arrest.

“A federal attorney working for the IRS’s Office of Professional Responsibility — broke bad and supplemented his income,” the statement reads.

According to an affidavit filed against Vitayanon, the recipient of a package of drugs was arrested, but agreed to cooperate with agents from the Department of Homeland Security. The source told authorities they had paid a meth distributor in Arizona around $8,600 for the shipment, and was referred to the distributor in 2014 by Vitayanon. DHS officials then used the source to negotiate a purchase with Vitayanon for an ounce of meth.

According to The Washington Post, law enforcement authorities found additional quantities of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and materials to distribute drugs after obtaining a search warrant.

A date still has not been set for a formal trial.

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