By Sherry Van Arsdall
Goshen News
ELKHART, Ind. — There’s a message Elkhart County’s prosecutor wants to send to local heroin dealers.
“If you keep dealing heroin in Elkhart County, you should expect that you are going to get caught. You are welcome to leave now and find another place to spread your poison, but you do need to leave our community,” Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker said.
In the past six months, there have been 30 cases filed against individuals in Elkhart County relating to heroin addiction and distribution, Becker said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
A month ago, the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against an heroin dealer who had been investigated by the Elkhart County Intelligence and Covert Enforcement Unit (ICE) and now faces up to 50 years on the charges, according to Becker. Becker declined to provide the name of the man.
Becker said that the prosecutor’s office has partnered with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to combat drug distribution since the county has suffered from the consequences of drug abuse.
The ICE Unit has operated in the shadows gathering information and infiltrating drug distribution networks, which has led to many successful prosecutions, Becker explained.
“In addition, it (ICE) provides us with information we sometimes wish we didn’t know but have an obligation to not only know, but to do something about,” the prosecutor said. “Our nation is in the grips of an opioid epidemic and we are not immune from its impact. Heroin is rearing its ugly head in your homes, in your neighbors’ homes and in your families’ homes. The people in the 30 cases are addicts and some of them are exploiting those addicts to line their own pockets with drug money, without concern for what their poison is doing to our community.”
Becker suggested opioid users get help by seeking treatment programs on their own time rather than waiting until they get caught.
“We will push you into treatment,” she said of the county’s plans for users who are caught. "... And know that many dealers are lacing drugs with Fentanyl, Carfentanyl and other analogs to keep you hooked. Those mixtures are deadly. I wish we could have gotten through to the 19 people who have died already this year from drug overdoses and eight of them were related to heroin.”
Becker said the prosecutor’s office will seek a Level 2 felony for drug dealers. That could mean a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, she added.
“We are coming after you. You are done preying on the vulnerable populations of our kids, our family members, our neighbors and our friends,” Becker said. “I will not hesitate to seek that kind of sentence for those who deserve it. We have always been aggressive and we will continue to be aggressive, exercising patience and absorbing the sacrifices it takes to thoroughly investigate drug dealers and prove they are guilty.”
Becker also suggested residents in Elkhart County stand up and take a role in protecting their communities.
“If you know someone who struggles with addiction, we can help intervene,” she said. “We need your help to combat this challenge, it is your community, too. Let’s make this happen together.”
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