Friday September 22 06:47 PM EDT Undercover Police Go Online To Bust Phish Fans By Contributing Editor Richard B. Simon reports After using the Internet to investigate the reputation and the lingo of Phish fans, undercover law-enforcement agents arrested as many as 90 concertgoers on substance-related charges at the jam bands show Monday in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Sgt. Larry Wagner of the Cuyahoga Falls Police Departments narcotics division said officers made arrests for 12 felonies and 10 misdemeanors outside the Blossom Music Center. Charges ranged from underage possession of alcohol to felony possession and trafficking in LSD, psychedelic mushrooms and Ecstasy. In the days before the Vermont band arrived in town, Capt. Barry Milich of the Sheriffs Department compared notes with police from other towns Phish had visited, while Wagner went online to research the Phish subculture for tips on how his undercover officers could fit in and understand the lingo. "Our guys will go up and say, Hey, you got any Molly (Ecstasy) or anything like that? " Wagner said. "They dont just sell grilled-cheese sandwiches out there." Wagner estimated that 70 to 80 officers from three agencies the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department, the Summit County Sheriffs Department and the Ohio Department of Public Safety were at the show, mostly in plainclothes, policing about 20,000 concertgoers. But the Phish fans picked up on the police presence quickly and would surround officers making arrests. "We knew when we were being made," Wagner said. "After the first arrest, they stated six up, meaning ... theyre here and theyre making an arrest, and for the mounted unit, it was six up, giddy up. So we were able to figure that out early on. ... Maybe I should have checked the Internet a little bit better before they came. Im back from the old school. I was waiting to hear pig and stuff like that, but I didnt hear any of that." Wagner admitted that some of the undercover officers blended in better than others. "I think Phish fans can tell the difference between Kmart tie-dyes and the ones they get at the concert." Most of the arrests were made before and during the show, Wagner said, while thousands of ticketless fans remained in the parking lot. Agent Rita Raimer of the Ohio Department of Public Safety said the department made 18 arrests in connection with underage possession of alcohol. Ohio penalties for drug possession range from likely probation for first-time offenders to possible jail time for those who have extensive criminal records or were caught selling large amounts. Wagner said all the felony arrests his department made were for "low-grade" offenses, for which the state has no mandatory minimum jail time. A Phish spokesperson declined to comment on the arrests. Many Phish fans follow the band from venue to venue, in the tradition of the Grateful Dead, so the band plays a different setlist each night, playing a mix of earlier tunes such as "Prince Caspian" ( RealAudio excerpt) and newer material such as "The Inlaw Josie Wales" ( RealAudio excerpt), from this years Farmhouse. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/so/20000922/en/undercover_police_go_online_to_b...