WSU student charged with selling cocaine to informant; raid nets half-pound of drug

A 23-year-old Washington State University student was arrested Thursday morning after detectives sent an informant to purchase drugs and then raided the suspect’s house in Pullman, finding a half-pound of cocaine and 60 tabs of Xanax, the oft-abused anxiety medication.

Court records say detectives with the Quad Cities Drug Task Force observed the informant purchasing cocaine from Francisco J. Torres on three occasions beginning in late March.

Authorities raided Torres’ house at 1120 NE Monroe St. on Thursday morning, finding him in a room with about 2 grams of cocaine, packaging material and a digital scale with cocaine residue on it, according to court records.

In a closet in another room, detectives found a safe containing the half-pound of cocaine, the Xanax, $700 in cash and other paraphernalia, according to court records.

In a news release Friday, Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said authorities were still investigating Torres’ roommate.

“Torres had access to his roommate’s room, and it is believed that Torres receives his cocaine from his roommate,” Myers said.

Torres remained in the Whitman County Jail on Friday. He faces four felony charges – three for delivering cocaine to the informant, and one for cocaine possession with intent to deliver.

The Quad Cities Drug Task Force includes investigators from law enforcement agencies in Pullman, Moscow, Lewiston and Clarkston, and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cocaine and Xanax are popular party drugs in Pullman and other college towns. In 2016, a 21-year-old student in WSU’s Honors College got jail time for selling cocaine to a task force informant behind her sorority’s house on College Hill.

At the time, WSU’s student government issued a statement about cocaine use, saying “this problem is becoming more and more apparent on our campus and is in no way isolated to one group or type of student.”