UC Santa Cruz Student With Drug Biz App Indicted: DOJ Contends

SAN JOSE, CA -- A federal grand jury in San Jose indicted Collin Riley Howard, charging him on suspicion of distributing and possessing cocaine and methamphetamine, the U.S. Department of Justice declared Tuesday.

According to the indictment filed Thursday, Howard, 18, of Sunnyvale, sold the drugs between Nov. 7 and 28 of 2018. An affidavit filed by a Homeland Security Investigations agent in connection with a search warrant alleges that Howard developed the “Banana Plug” application, which was available on the Apple App Store.

The Banana Plug App sold contraband, including cocaine, “Molly,” and “Shrooms" -- slang terms for a psychedelic drug and mushrooms, respectively. The app also invited customers to make special requests. Posters that advertised the application were hung on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.

Upon discovering the posters and the application, a UC Santa Cruz police officer, in coordination with HSI, worked undercover to obtain multiple transactions. The officers used the application to request marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, then communicated with Howard via Snapchat to set up the transactions. At the fourth meeting, U.C. Santa Cruz police officers arrested Howard before any payment was made.

U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s, commonly known as ICE, worked with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations unit to secure the indictment of Howard, who made his initial appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million for each of the violations.

Howard's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 23.

--Image via Shutterstock