Although friends call them "Harold and Kumar" after the marijuana-smoking title characters in the 2004 flick, two residents of Randolph Residence Hall said the substances seized from their room in an April 3 raid by Duke University Police Department officers were a far cry from contraband.
Plastic bags containing "leafy-green vegetable matter," white powder and 119 unidentified pills were confiscated from the third-floor room, according to a police blotter. But the freshmen wrote in a jointly authored e-mail that what appeared to be illegal substances were merely oregano, powdered sugar and vitamin C supplements.
Maj. Gloria Graham, DUPD operations commander, declined to comment on the investigation or whether the substances seized from the room had since been identified.
March 25, nine days before the raid, DUPD investigators viewed "a bundle of green leafy substance" in the room through an open door when responding to a complaint of marijuana odor, but could not enter because the residents were not present to consent to a search, according to a police report.
The incident raised a red flag for the residents, who wrote that officers could not have viewed anything within the room without stepping inside. They added that others on the hall said they saw the police walking around inside their room without their permission.
The students wrote that a wall jutting out adjacent to their room prevents outsiders from seeing inside unless the door is at least halfway open, and they are certain they could not have left their door more than a crack open.
Following the March 25 incident, which they deemed an "invasion of privacy," the freshmen wrote they "had a feeling [DUPD] would be back again."
The students added that they were most troubled by the confiscation of personal items. In addition to the suspected contraband, officers seized watches, two laptop computers, two external hard drives, three cameras, four empty beer boxes, two beer mini kegs and jewelry, including a ring with a cannabis design.
"At this point we just want our belongings back as there is clearly nothing to be found," the students wrote. "We are beginning to think they are just keeping our stuff because they are disappointed they did not find what they wanted to find."
The students also dismissed allegations that their room is the hub of an East Campus-wide drug operation.
The theory stems from information provided by a confidential informant, who stated in late February that the Randolph residents had prepared and distributed drugs from their dormitory and were major marijuana suppliers for the all-freshman campus, DUPD Officer Rekayi Isley wrote in an affidavit in support of the search warrant.
"If we were the epicenter of a drug ring, we would be wearing Gucci suits, and we wouldn't be going to Duke," one of the freshmen said in a phone interview.
Freshman Michael Curtis, who lives on the same floor as the accused, said he believes the students are innocent.
"We're all good friends with the guys," he said. "I don't know of any drama."
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