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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2015/06/05/heroin-crackdown-macomb-detroit-police/28533349/
Crackdown targets heroin trafficking in Macomb, Detroit
Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press 6:09 p.m. EDT June 5, 2015
Heroin overdose is a growing problem in metro Detroit and nationally. Twenty-three agencies assisted in the crackdown, according to a release from Roseville Police. More details are to be come today.
Heroin is taking and destroying lives and families in metro Detroit and across the country.
But nearly two dozen local law enforcement agencies are fighting back by combating the heroin trade in Operation Smack Down, a crackdown to combat heroin use and trafficking in Detroit and Macomb County.
More than 100 people, mostly heroin users from Macomb County, were arrested; nearly two dozen search warrants were conducted at suspected drug supply houses on Detroit's east side, and authorities seized more than $237,000 worth of heroin and counting.
"The sources are everywhere … It's all our problem," Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said of the growing heroin epidemic in the region, adding that there have been 575 arrests related to the drug by Macomb County law enforcement since the beginning of the year.
The drug is addictive, relatively inexpensive and easy to get with addicts taking SMART buses down Van Dyke and Gratiot (known as the Heroin Express) to avoid detection in getting their dope.
It's also deadly.
The number of heroin related drug overdose deaths increased dramatically from 1999 through 2013, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Related: Deputies revive Highland man after heroin overdose
Deaths related to heroin were 37 in 1999 compared to 369 in 2013. During that 15-year period, there were 2,204 deaths related to heroin statewide, according to the department's statistics.
Some authorities say the numbers are higher, with some deaths not reported to medical examiners or classified in different ways.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, more than 60 people have died of overdoses of heroin and fentanyl in Wayne and Washtenaw counties since Jan. 1.
In Oakland County, heroin overdoses doubled between 2013 and 2014. The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office recently said it is seeing an increasing trend this year of fentanyl deaths and deaths that are a combination of heroin and other drugs.
Federal prosecutors are fighting the growing epidemic of heroin and prescription pill abuse by slapping drug traffickers with enhanced penalties – life in prison. Last week, they charged four local men with contributing to the overdose deaths of three people.
Related: Feds go after drug dealers involved in overdose deaths
On Thursday, the district attorney's office in Knoxville, Tenn., announced that a 38-year-old Detroit native pleaded guilty to four counts of the sale of heroin in a drug-free zone and will serve nine years in prison under a plea agreement approved by a judge there.
Law enforcement, including Oakland and Macomb county sheriff's offices, now are carrying opioid overdose kits so they can administer naloxone in a nasal spray to help save someone in the throes of a heroin or opioid overdose.
Law enforcement agencies from Detroit to Romeo and the Wayne and Macomb county prosecutor's offices were involved in this week's crackdown that they said netted 155 arrests for possession of heroin in Macomb County and at least 27 felony and misdemeanor arrests Thursday alone in Detroit.
Authorities also seized heroin - with one seizure in Detroit having a street value of $217,800 - cocaine, marijuana and other pills in addition to a handful of firearms.
More than $81,000 in cash had been seized in Macomb County and Detroit, with Detroit Police still busting suspected supply houses today on the city's east side.
Berlin said the effort was not only to bust the suppliers, but to get help for the users, such as getting into drug court or an intervention program depending on their desire to get off the drug and their criminal background.
He said even if a quarter of those arrested can get off the drug, that's fewer people to buy heroin.
Berlin said it's likely other crackdowns will be planned.
Detroit Police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said many suburbanites are coming to Detroit to buy drugs and are getting robbed on the way to or from where they bought the heroin.
"Too many parents bury their head in the sand," Dolunt said. "Your kids are selling, too."
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
Staff writer Tresa Baldas contributed to this report.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:17 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| The scanner Facebook sites indicated 4 suspected heroin overdoses in the Flint area between Thursday and Saturday. There have been various times when the county has experienced a rash of heroin overdoses and deaths. There has been no transparency from the administration as to the extent of the problem. |
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Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:32 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/05/29/drug-charges/28166393/
Feds go after drug dealers involved in overdose deaths
By Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press 8:46 p.m. EDT May 29, 2015
To combat the epidemic of heroin and prescription pill abuse, prosecutors are targeting drug traffickers and hitting them with enhanced penalties — life in prison — because someone died.
One month after finding her son dead in his bed, slumped over with a syringe in his hand, the grieving mother took to Facebook.
"Son, it's been one month since we lost you. The pain runs even deeper than that morning I found you. Most nights I wish I could join you, because I know when I wake up (your're) the first thing on my mind," Delanna Strickland wrote on her public Facebook page to her son, Benny Cavazos, 27, who died from a toxic mix of heroin and fentanyl on April 5. "I feel like a zombie.I find no joy or laughter in my life any more."
While Strickland struggles to find peace, she may get justice.
To combat the ongoing epidemic of heroin and prescription pill abuse, federal prosecutors are targeting the traffickers who sell the drugs, and hitting them with enhanced penalties — life in prison — because someone died.
On Friday, as part of that crackdown on heroin and painkiller dealers, whom authorities say are killing Americans at an alarming rate, prosecutors charged four local men with contributing to the overdose deaths of three people. Among those charged was the man who allegedly supplied Strickland's son the heroin that killed him.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office, more than 60 people have died of overdoses of heroin and fentanyl in Wayne and Washtenaw counties since Jan. 1. In Oakland County, heroin overdoses doubled between 2013 and 2014 and nationwide, overdose deaths have tripled between 2010 and 2013. Exact numbers were not provided.
"There's a focus on heroin trafficking because it's become a very significant problem not only across the country, but particularly in our region," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who stressed that heroin cases that end in death are a top priority: "We hope that strong enforcement will deter the distribution of heroin. It's poison. And it kills people."
Heroin is especially dangerous when mixed with fentanyl, a pain killer that is 15 to 20 times more potent than heroin.
Among those charged in this latest crackdown is Zachary R. Burdette, 29, of Ypsilanti, who allegedly delivered a 10th of a gram of heroin to Cavazos the night before he died. It was laced with fentanyl.
According to court records, text messages and cell phone records helped authorities link Burdette to Cavazos, whose mother discovered his body at 5 a.m. on April 5. At 2 a.m. that same day, Burdette had sent Cavazos a text message that read: "Aye did I bring a tenth to u."
Police interviewed Cavazos's mother, who told them that her son was a heroin user and that he lived with her. She also told them that the night before her son died, he received a call from someone and then went outside and met with an unknown individual. She last saw him alive at 11 p.m.
When police arrived the next morning, they found a spoon and cotton on top of a dresser near Cavazos's body, records show. Spoon and cotton are commonly used for heroin injection.
The next day, police arrested Burdette during a traffic stop. According to court documents, Burdette told police that he "fronted" Cavazos a 10th of a gram of heroin the day before he died, and that he had given him heroin two other times. After learning of Cavazos's death, records show, Burdette said, he "flushed the remaining heroin down the toilet and deleted all of his text messages and call logs with Cavazos from April 4."
Burdette is free on bond. His court-appointed attorney could not be reached for comment.
Also charged on Friday were: Roy Edward Brownlee, 49, of Ypsilanti, a parolee; Kenyatta Akili McConico, 36, of Detroit, and Charlie Stevens, 24, of Beverly Hills.
According to court documents, Brownlee was charged with supplying the heroin/fentanyl mix to Burdette that wound up killing Cavazo. Brownlee , who is on parole from a 2005 assault case, has a lengthy criminal history that includes seven drug arrests, including one conviction. He also charged with possessing and supplying an assault rifle and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
McConico is charged with distributing heroin that resulted in the March 19 overdose death of a 35-year-old woman from Redford. Stevens is charged with distributing Vicodin pills to an 18-year-old Franklin man who died from a Vicodin overdose on June 25, 2011, when he was discovered in his home by his family.
Burdette, Brownlee and McConico face up to life in prison and a $1 million fine.
Attorneys for the defendants were not available for comment.
Stevens faces up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for distributing Vicodin that resulted in death. |
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Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:40 pm |
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