Professor pleads guilty for role in synthetic drug ring

HOUSTON – A 37-year-old college professor has pleaded guilty to federal charges of aiding and abetting an unlicensed money transmitting business in what prosecutors say was one of the largest synthetic drug operations in the nation.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson says Omar Al Nasser, of Sugar Land, admitted as part of a plea agreement Tuesday that he was paid to wire more than $200,000 from a U.S. bank to accounts in Jordan.

Al Nasser was among 16 people arrested early this year as authorities seized 9.5 tons of drugs and chemicals. He was identified as an associate finance professor at the University of Houston-Victoria.

Al Nasser faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing set for February before U.S. District Judge Gray Miller.