More than 300 arrested, cited at four-day festival
BUSTED AT BONNAROO:
Law enforcement officials overseeing the 16th annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival said they arrested and cited more than 300 people during this year’s festival — a slight rise in numbers from the previous year.
Coffee County Sheriff Department spokesman Lucky Knott said authorities wrote 295 citations and arrested 42 people during the fourday music festival held June 8-11 in Manchester, Tenn.
Last year, police issued 277 citations and arrested 37 people.
In 2015, there were 76 arrests made by all law enforcement agencies overseeing the festival, up from 60 in 2014.
A majority of this year’s citations and arrests included illegal possession of a controlled substance such as cocaine, ecstasy and LSD — all typical cases connected to Bonnaroo.
Some of the major arrests were drug busts including one on June 9 when authorities said they caught two men with more than $30,000 worth of drugs such as mushrooms, marijuana and molly — a synthetic drug that alters mood and perception — inside a vehicle.
The day prior, an undercover Manchester police officer said he caught a suspected drug dealer with more than $6,000 worth of marijuana, cocaine, mushrooms, LSD and molly.
In addition, less than 24 hours into the event the sheriff’s department busted a New York man with more than 1,000 fake drugs.
According to an arrest warrant, David E. Brady, 45, of Albany, told authorities he “was doing God’s work by selling fake drugs.” Brady was charged with multiple counts of possession of counterfeit controlled substances.
About 65,000 people attended Bonnaroo this year — a number significantly higher than 2016. Ticket sales fell to 45,537 last year after averaging about 73,000 over the previous 10 years.