Julia Diaco, who was busted for selling drugs, including cocaine, as an NYU freshman earlier this year, received 18 months probation from a State Supreme Court Justice. The terms of her probation are that she must complete a 10-month residential treatment program at Clear View in Sandpoint, Idaho and then an 8-month vocational program. The ruling gives clues into what happens with offenders who get probation: If she completes the Clear View residential program, Diaco's guilty pleas ["criminal sale of a controlled substance (to an undercover officer) and criminal possession of a controlled substance (cocaine found in her dorm room when a search warrant was executed"] will be "converted to crimes that don't require jail time," then receiving 5 years probation. But if she violated the probation, she'll have to go to state prision. Let that be a lesson to you new NYU freshman: You can get caught if you deal to undercovers.
The Post has been loving the Julia Diaco story since the beginning. They dubbed her the "Pot Princess" and today's headline, "See Ya Tater, Pot Princess" certainly has a bit of fondness for the co-ed drug dealer. Today, the Post runs a photograph of Diaco going to court (left), looking quite polished and put together, and emphasizes that Diaco's family wealth played a part in her getting a sweet probation deal. A Legal Aid attorney tells the Post, "I would love for our clients to be offered the same deal. But Legal Aid wouldn't be representing a princess." Well, of course - money talks in this world. It's not right, but that's what happens. Diaco's lawyer says the probation at Clear View is not "the lap of luxury" and notes that while Diaco was selling a variety of drugs, Mary Jane was her biggest problem: "She had a very heavy marijuana habit. The morning began with marijuana, and the day ended with marijuana." Gothamist hopes that Diaco manages it through probation; she's the most high-profile bust of a college drug dealer we've heard of, and let's face it, they are a dime a dozen. We'd actually be interested in Law & Order: Class of 2009 where undercovers have to attend NYU, Columbia, Fordham, St. John's, Brooklyn College, Hunter, you name it - it's totally Law & Order meets 21 Jump Street.
