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Walworth county officials shift resources to crack heroin problem

Joseph May liked playing sports and joking with friends.

He told his mother about the grandchildren he hoped to give her one day. She described him as a young man with a beautiful smile and a hearty laugh. He had a personality that could brighten anybody's day.

No more.

On March 18, 2007, May was found dead in the basement of a Lake Geneva home. Authorities say he died from a heroin overdose.

He was 21.

"I feel as if someone put their hand through my chest, took my heart and stopped it, stole it," Foley wrote in 2007. "Not only did I lose my son, I lost my baby."

Her written statement is part of the court file in the case against the Burlington man convicted in her son's death.

May's death was among the first of eight heroin-related deaths in Walworth County in the last two years.

Heroin was almost unheard of in Walworth County four years ago, but it continues to spread in the county, prompting law enforcement agencies to shift their focus from other drugs.

As detailed in a recent series of stories in The Janesville Gazette, Rock County is dealing with a heroin problem, too. The highly addictive opiate is suspected in 11 Rock County deaths.

In Walworth County, Deputy District Attorney Joshua Grube prosecutes all the drug cases. He said the sheriff's office and municipalities have shifted resources in the last 18 months to focus on cocaine and heroin.

"Rather than spending time buying $20 of marijuana from a college kid, we're trying to get these more dangerous drugs off the streets," Grube said. "It's the same resources, just following different ways."

The Walworth County Drug Enforcement Unit works with municipalities to execute search warrants and crack down on the drug problem using drug-sniffing dogs and informants.

In the past two weeks, officers and deputies have made three arrests for possession with intent to deliver heroin.

Grube said law enforcement officials have executed about one search warrant per week, sometimes two. He meets regularly with Walworth County Drug Enforcement Unit officials to plan for upcoming cases.

Despite the resources invested in combating the problem, Koss said, the best solution is education. He won't argue whether marijuana is a gateway drug or how else heroin addicts get into the habit.

No matter how users get there, heroin is a serious drug that continues to destroy lives in Walworth County, he said.

Like May, most of the users are white, middle-class people. They are not necessarily poor or involved with previous criminal activity, he said.

"I have no idea why the shift unless it's the abuse of prescription drugs that led to this and it has become addiction to heroin," Koss said. "Otherwise, I don't get it. I don't understand what the attraction is compared to marijuana and cocaine."

Two years after her son's death, Foley urges parents to pay closer attention to their children to avoid the pain she still suffers.

"Just don't think that your children are above any of it," she told The Janesville Gazette when reached Tuesday at her home in Nevada.

"It's on my mind every day," Foley added.

"I think, 'What a waste, what a waste. What a difference he could have made.'"

Heroin prosecutions

Of the eight heroin-related deaths in Walworth County, three cases have been closed. Five remain under investigation.

-- Michael E. Flaherty, 28, Burlington, was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Joseph May.

-- Bobbie J. Joecks, 38, Elkhorn, was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide for the 2006 death of Jason Bodart.

-- Devis K. Osinski, 44, of Pell Lake, and Jermal A. Johnson, 39, of Zion, Ill., were convicted of manufacture and delivery of heroin in connection with the 2006 death of Rebecca Monroe. Ladine L. Osinski was previously part of the case but her charges were dismissed, along with first-degree reckless homicide charges against Devis Osinski and Johnson in connection with Monroe's death.

-- Amber L. Drummond, 24, and Jeremy L. Nunn, 32, both of Lake Geneva, were found April 23 with 70 bindles containing about 7 grams of heroin. Drummond and Nunn each are being held on $50,000 cash bond. They are scheduled for preliminary hearings May 1.

-- Eric L. McIntyre, 30, of N2402 Charles Young Drive, Burlington, faces 11 counts and was found with 174 bindles containing about 17 grams of heroin. McIntyre waived his right to a preliminary hearing April 24 and is scheduled for arraignment April 29. He is being held on $70,000 cash bond.