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Alleged Main Line drug dealers waive hearings

Five defendants accused of being dealers in the Main Line drug ring waived their preliminary hearings in Montgomery County District Court Tuesday, sending their cases on to Common Pleas Court.

Five defendants accused of being dealers in the Main Line drug ring waived their preliminary hearings in Montgomery County District Court Tuesday, sending their cases on to Common Pleas Court.

Waiving district court hearings is not unusual, prosecutors said.

In court were Willow L. Orr, 22, of Philadelphia; Reid Cohen, 18, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; Daniel R. McGrath, 18, of Glenolden; Christian S. Euler, 23, of Villanova, and Domenic V. Curcio, 29, of Philadelphia.

One by one, they appeared before district Judge Kathleen Valentine in her Ardmore courtroom on the Main Line. Each said they willingly were giving up their rights that a preliminary hearing would have afforded them, including the right to question prosecutors' evidence, and to call their own witnesses.

Valentine set their formal arraignments in Common Pleas Court for next month.

Only, Curcio's attorney, Scott Wilhelm, would speak after the hearing. Curcio came to the district court from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, where he was being held for violating his probation in a separate theft case. His mother and grandparents sat feet away, sometimes looking at him, and looking away when police put handcuffs back on his wrists when the proceeding was done.

Wilhelm said his client is looking "to resolve the matter as amicably as possible."

Though he did buy drugs from defendant Neil K. Scott, Wilhelm said, they were small quantities meant for his personal use, not for selling.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office last month arrested nine adults and two juveniles in a case that features allegations of alumni and former lacrosse players of the prestigious private Haverford School trying to corner sales of marijuana and other drugs to high schools along the tony Main Line, and in some colleges in the region.

Proceedings for Timothy C. Brooks, 18, of Villanova, who authorities say was one of the ring's two leaders, were postponed at the request of Brooks' attorney. Two other defendants accused of dealing drugs are set to have preliminary hearings this week.

The other man police say allege led the ring, Scott, 25, of Haverford, already had waived his proceedings in District Court. Cases of the two 17-year-olds are being heard in the county's juvenile court.

cdavis@phillynews.com

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