Heroin use is a growing concern for local law enforcement. Detective Dave Combs with the Knox Police Department says it first showed up in Starke County a few years ago and quickly grew in popularity. He says it typically comes into the area from the south side of Chicago and South Bend. The drug is derived from the opium plant and is imported from Mexico. Combs adds users can buy a folded foil packet of heroin for about $20 and get high. Continue reading
Two Knox men were arrested on Wednesday after Starke County authorities allegedly found them in possession of heroin.
The war on drugs begins at home. That’s the message a Valparaiso man whose 20-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose in 2002 shared with a group of community members yesterday in Marshall County. Mann Spitler III became a certified prevention professional and discontinued his podiatry practice in 2006. Manna was his only child. He says she succumbed to peer pressure as a teenager and started using heroin. Spitler urges parents to take note of changes in their child’s appearance. He says bloodshot eyes, contracted or dilated pupils are signs of opiate use. Cocaine can also cause pupils to dilate. So can marijuana, but the whites of the eyes will be bloodshot as well. Continue reading
Heroin in Marshall County is the topic of a seminar later this month in Plymouth. Continue reading
The Marshall County Safety Commission will work to keep drugs out of schools, and everyone can keep an eye out for possible drug activity.
Indiana State Police troopers said the number of meth labs has decreased in Marshall County, but the threat of meth getting into children’s hands is still possible. There are many more cases now involving the Department of Child Services because parents are abusing drugs, according to state police.
A lengthy federal investigation into the distribution of heroin from Chicago into northwest Indiana resulted in the arrest of six LaPorte County residents. Continue reading
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced that aims at stopping the abuse of prescription pain medication while giving law enforcement the tools needed to prevent heroin use and addiction.
U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) are working on the legislation. According to Donnelly, prescription drug abuse remains a serious problem in the state and it’s going to “take coordination and partnerships on the local, state and federal levels in order to begin to combat the increasing levels of heroin and prescription drug abuse.”
A Stevensville, Mich. man is jailed on a charge of dealing heroin following a Saturday afternoon arrest by officers from the Knox City Police Department. Chad Elem, 40, was reportedly in possession of nearly a gram of heroin divided into individual packages and an undisclosed amount of cash when he was taken into custody. Law enforcement officials say the arrest is part of an ongoing investigation into the trafficking of heroin into the area. The Starke County Sheriff’s Office and Knox City Police Departments assisted with the arrest.
A dangerous drug is making a resurgence in the area, as Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer said the county has seen its third death as a direct result of a heroin overdose. Gayer said the third death was less than a week ago; the man was found by a roommate with heroin and paraphernalia nearby.
Gayer explained it’s difficult to combat this new danger in the community, as thus far, it’s staying under the radar.
A motorist’s erratic driving early Sunday morning led to a traffic stop and subsequent arrest for drug possession after a patrolman from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office reportedly recovered drugs that were thrown from the vehicle. The officer pulled the car, driven by Matthew C. Cadwell, over on U.S. 30 east of Oak Road. Prior to the stop, the officer saw Cadwell toss items from the window, according to the incident report. Another officer retrieved the baggie, which reportedly contained two white pills identified as a controlled substance. Officers searched the vehicle and reportedly found more drug paraphernalia and evidence of recent drug use. Cadwell appeared nervous, according to the arresting officer. During a search at the Marshall County Jail, employees there reportedly found seven small baggies of white powder that field-tested positive for heroin. Formal charges against Cadwell are pending.
A LaPorte dentist is due in court Friday in Porter County after police reportedly found 13 postage stamp-size bags of suspected heroin and evidence of recent drug use in his car after a Monday traffic stop. Benjamin Porter, 30, told officers in Portage who pulled him over on the Indiana Toll Road he had snorted two baggies of heroin, according to WSBT-TV. Porter was stopped around 7 p.m. for speeding and driving erratically, and his nervous mannerisms prompted the officer who pulled him over to call for a K-9 to search his 2004 Chevrolet Impala. Porter admitted there was heroin in the vehicle, according to the arrest report. His dental practice is Porter Family Dentistry on Indiana Ave. in LaPorte, and he is also a service provider at LaPorte County Dental Services, which provides dental care to low-income patients. He’s charged with the A felony offense of dealing in a narcotic drug and possession of a narcotic drug as a C felony.
A LaPorte man’s lead foot landed him in jail for possession of heroin following a Sunday night traffic stop. Travis Bates, 26, was pulled over for speeding at Fox Park in LaPorte around 8:20 p.m., and his vehicle was searched. Officers reportedly found drug paraphernalia and a brown crystal substance that tested positive for heroin. He’s facing a felony charge.
EMS personnel in LaPorte successfully revived a Michigan City woman believed to have overdosed on heroin. LaPorte Police were called to an apartment in the 300 block of Park Street at 7:42 p.m. Sunday. The male tenant told the officers the 29-year-old Michigan City woman appeared to be very intoxicated when she showed up at his apartment. She eventually became unresponsive, and he called 911. Heroin is possibly to blame for last Tuesday’s deaths of a 20-year-old LaPorte man and a 17-year-old girl from Dyer. Toxicology results are pending.
Knox City Police Detective Dave Combs explained that he and the other officers in Starke County are aware of the new epidemic and are doing what they can to get the drug out of the hands of dealers and users.
Officers from the LaPorte County Metro Operations Unit arrested two people accused of dealing heroin. Clifton P. Reigert, 30, of LaPorte, is being held without bond in the LaPorte County Jail. Bond for Brittany L. Sons, 19, of Westville is set at $100,000. Both are due in LaPorte Circuit Court later today. Continue reading
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department found heroin, drug paraphernalia and syringes while serving a search warrant at a home on Long Lane Drive this morning following a six-month-long narcotics investigation. Frank Esparza, Jr. faces charges of dealing heroin, possession of heroin, possession of syringes and maintaining a common nuisance. Maria Esparza was booked on a charge of maintaining a common nuisance, as was Tamara Esparza. She’s also charged with neglect of a dependent. A fourth suspect, Anthony Esparza, faces charges of maintaining a common nuisance, neglect of a dependent and possession of a syringe.
A LaPorte woman faces between 20 and 50 years in prison for dealing in heroin and is jailed on a $100,000 bond. Officers from the LaPorte Metro Operations Unit and LaPorte Police Department served a warrant on Rita M. Parker, 29, at the Country Acres Apartment complex. They also arrested Tony B. Bankson, 34, of LaPorte, at the same residence. He was wanted for a probation violation and is currently jailed without bond. Both Parker and Bankson are housed in the LaPorte County Jail.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department has investigated several cases in recent weeks that involve a drug that hasn’t been known to be in the area for a while: heroin.
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer says heroin is a pricey drug and is not as obtainable as some of the other drugs that deputies have been confiscating from criminals.
“We’re still dealing with the prescription pill epidemic, methamphetamine and marijuana, but now here within the last couple of weeks, my officers have dealt with a couple of scenarios in which heroin has surfaced,” explained Gayer.
On the evening of April 10, 2012, officers with the Indiana State Police and the South Bend Police Department Special Operation Section worked in concert to remove more than 10 pounds of powder heroin from the streets. The multi-jurisdictional investigation that led officers to the estimated $400,000 in heroin stemmed from an investigation that started in Indianapolis during the summer of 2011.
