Four inmates OD on suspected heroin

Four Miami County Jail inmates overdosed on suspected heroin Friday night and sheriff ’s deputies have narrowed their search for the smuggler down to two or three men, said sheriff ’s Capt. Mike Marion, jail administrator.

The overdose victims were returned from a trip to the Upper Valley Medical Center, but they have been moved from the county’s minimum security facility, on North County Road 25A, to the maximum security jail above the county courthouse downtown, Marion said.

The inmate who smuggled in the suspected heroin was not one of the men who overdosed, he said.

The victims — ages 25, 29, 36 and 37 — were found in a 60-man pod about 7:40 p.m., the captain said. One of them was unconscious. Jail staff administered four doses of Narcan and a rescue squad administered more doses before they made it to the hospital, Marion said. The others, found to be in various stages of obvious intoxication, were sent to the hospital to be checked out.

Marion said a drug-detecting dog was brought in and alerted to at least two bunk areas. Deputies did find, seize and destroy residual suspected drugs. The pod has been cleaned and cleared, he said, and the remaining inmates have been allowed back to their assigned pod.

The victims were in jail on a variety of charges, including probation violation, receiving stolen property, theft offenses, possession of drug abuse instruments and trespassing. They likely will not be charged, but they will be given help if they ask, the captain said.

Marion said if investigators can narrow their suspect list to one person, the sheriff ’s office would consider pursuing a drug trafficking charge. The two or three men on the suspected smuggler list are known to the sheriff ’s office, Marion said.