CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- To trace the roots of Montgomery County's heroin problem, you'll have to travel 50 miles away to Indianapolis.
The sheriff's department says 60 percent of the inmates in the Montgomery County Jail are facing drug charges – most of them heroin related. And, until last week, much of the heroin sold in Crawfordsville was first purchased from a dealer at a home on the northeast side of Indianapolis.
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"They said he actually had individuals from the Crawfordsville area living with him and assisting him in narcotics dealing," said Deputy Ben Fullenwider.
When police raided the drug house, they arrested two women from Crawfordsville. Much of the narcotics purchased by IMPD during the investigation was sold by women to one undercover informant.
"He's got these females that he puts up in this house and feeds them dope, gets them on the dope and has them pushing the dope for him while he does all the running and he collects all the money," the informant said.
Crawfordsville has witnessed an explosion in heroin use, and the overdoses and deaths that come with it. So far this use, use of Narcan – the anti-overdose drug – has doubled.
"On a trend, you can tell when a fresh shipment has come into the city limits," said Crawfordsville Fire Capt. Nate Patton. "We tend to run a little more calls on that."
Jeremy Griffin has a personal connection to Crawfordsville's drug problem. Like so many other parents, his daughter is addicted to heroin and remains locked up in the Montgomery County Jail.
"I hope they can get something done about it, because too many innocent kids are dying because somebody wants to play modern day chemist," Griffin said.
Crawfordsville and Montgomery County have reached out to IMPD for help with their heroin problem. But the man dealing much of the its dope, police say, remains at large and still dealing to people afflicted with an illness and very much in need of treatment.
IMPD detectives are still searching for the target of the investigation – the man identified as Crawfordsville's man supplier of heroin.
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