SOUTH KINGSTOWN — One of the students arrested in a drug sweep at the University of Rhode Island in late 2006 is demanding $400,000 from the town, alleging that he has lost educational and job opportunities and suffered emotionally due to a charge that was later dismissed.

Owen Hnat-Dembitz, then 18, of Colts Neck, N.J., was one of eight students arrested during raids that resulted from a three-month undercover investigation by URI and South Kingstown police into drug dealing on the Kingston campus. A ninth student was charged the next day.

The police accused Hnat-Dembitz, at the time a URI freshman —he is no longer enrolled there — of conspiring to sell marijuana to an informant. That charge was dismissed by the attorney general’s office last June because of a lack of sufficient evidence, according to the claim filed by his lawyer, V. Edward Formisano.

The claim, which puts the town on notice that a suit could follow, argues that the charge grew from the town’s failure to properly train and supervise its police officers, that it deprived him of his civil rights and caused him to incur legal expenses.

Formisano declined to comment on the case yesterday. Hnat-Dembitz could not be reached in New Jersey.

According to a police report, Hnat-Dembitz helped arrange the sale of marijuana to a cooperating witness, Robert Marr, on Oct. 10, 2006. Hnat-Dembitz contacted George Andrea, who a half-hour later handed Marr a bag of marijuana in exchange for $20 outside Heathman Hall, the report by Detective Michael Natale states.

Andrea, 18, of Washington Township, N.J., admitted to two counts of possession with intent to deliver in a plea deal reached last June. In exchange for pleading no contest, he received a five-year suspended sentence with probation.

“We conducted a thorough investigation,” Capt. Jeffrey Allen said this week. “We had probable cause to make an arrest.”

The police began the investigation using two female officers posing as students after hearing that students were taking hallucinogenic mushrooms and other drugs, according to Allen.

Fifteen URI and South Kingstown police officers raided Coddington and Heathman halls at 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 6, 2006, arresting students in their dorm rooms and one at a fraternity house.

The police described the students as street-level dealers who sold on and around campus. Officers seized 11 pieces of packaged crack cocaine, estimated at $440, and a half-ounce of marijuana, they said.

Seven other students entered pleas over the next year and were sentenced on the charges as detailed this week by Michael J. Healey, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.

In addition to Andrea, Derek Delahunt, then 18, of Tamarack Circle, North Kingstown, pleaded no contest to one count of possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms with intent to deliver in December and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years’ probation.

Ryan P. Wilkin, then 18, of Old Beth Page, N.Y., pleaded no contest to two counts of conspiring to sell marijuana and was sentenced to five years’ probation. A drug possession charge was dropped under the agreement, court records show.

Sadiq Kafo, then 19, of 44 Randall St., Pawtucket, pleaded no contest to four counts of selling cocaine. In exchange, he received a 10-year prison sentence, with 18 months to serve in the Adult Correctional Institutions and 8½ years suspended with probation. Two counts of delivering cocaine were dismissed under the agreement.

Joshua D. Giorgi, then 18, of 14 Vinton St., Providence, pleaded guilty to two counts of selling marijuana and one count of possessing marijuana. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with one year to serve and nine years suspended with probation.

Giorgi admitted to sufficient facts in Family Court for crimes he committed as a juvenile. He served five months in the Training School for three counts of delivering and two counts of conspiring to deliver marijuana. That time was credited toward his ACI sentence and he was released on home confinement last Sept. 26, Healey said.

Benjamin Meskell, then 18, of Manhasset, N.Y. pleaded no contest to one count of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and was given a five-year suspended sentence with probation.

Two female juveniles were also charged. One was accepted into drug court over the state’s objections. She received 18 months’ probation, which was stayed pending her completion of drug court, Healey said.

Another was released on home confinement and paroled in April. Most of the students were ordered to undergo substance abuse counseling and perform community service.

“These kids did some pretty real sentences,” said Healey, who declined to comment on the status of Hnat-Dembitz’s case.

Only Delahunt and Wilkin remain enrolled at URI, said spokesman Dave Lavallee. Juniors now, both have been in good standing since their arrest.

Hnat-Dembitz’s claim has been forwarded to South Kingstown’s insurance carrier, Allen said. URI has no record of a similar claim being filed against the university, according to Lavallee.

kmulvane@projo.com