Jail For Some Dealing Drugs At Summer Ratdog Show

From The Dispatch:

Jail For Some Dealing Drugs At Summer Concert
Shawn Soper
News Editor

OCEAN CITY – Court cases for some of the 31 drug possession and distribution arrests made during a concert at the Ocean City Convention Center last August are starting to trickle into the court system with two significant convictions resulting in serious jail time last week.

Ocean City police arrested 31 individuals during a concert at the Convention Center last Aug. 8 featuring Ratdog, a band led by former Grateful Dead member Bob Weir.

Police agencies were well aware of the reputation of the bands’ followers and scoured the concert venue with additional undercover and uniformed police. The result was 31 total arrests, many of which were for simple open container and disorderly conduct charges, but the “shakedown” also netted several significant drug possession and distribution arrests, which are now starting to show up on District and Circuit Court dockets in Ocean City and Worcester County.

For example, Jacob M. Eikenberry, 26, of Boulder, Colo., was arrested the night of the concert and charged with several counts of distributing psilocybin, also referred to as mushrooms, hashish, heroin and prescription valium. In December, Eikenberry pleaded guilty to distribution of hashish and possession of heroin but had to wait to learn his fate pending the completion of a pre-sentence investigation.

Eikenberry allegedly asked an OCPD narcotics officer working undercover at the concert if he wanted to buy any “shrooms” or hashish. The deal was completed in the Convention Center parking lot, and Eikenberry was arrested by uniformed OCPD officers.

Last week Eikenberry was back in Circuit Court for a sentencing hearing and was ultimately sentenced to 18 months in Worcester County Jail for each of the two charges to which he pleaded guilty in December.

In another case during the August concert, the same OCPD narcotics detective approached a man, later identified as Noah Hicks, 27, of Rochester, N.Y., who appeared to be making several transactions in the Convention Center parking lot and offered methamphetamine (MDMA) to the officer. The officer agreed and the deal was completed in the back of the concert venue before uniformed officers took Hicks into custody.

In December, Hicks pleaded guilty to manufacturing and distributing MDMA and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered. Back in Circuit Court last week, Hicks was sentenced to one year in Worcester County jail with credit given for the 203 days already served. A ruling on a request for work release was reserved.