Thursday, November 13th, 2014
Task force established to fight drug abuse
By Kathy Thompson
Photo by Kathy Thompson/The Daily Standard
A needle, suspected heroin, cash and other paraphernalia were found during a search at 245 Leona St., Celina, Tuesday afternoon. The newly developed HIT Squad, or Heroin Interdiction Team consisting of officers from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office and Celina Police Department, served a warrant and arrested Andrew Hesse, 33, on a trafficking charge.
CELINA - Officers from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office and Celina Police Department are forming a new task force to combat drug use and trafficking in the area.
The Heroin Interdiction Squad, known as the HIT Squad, will target heroin users and dealers. Celina police officers will be sworn into the sheriff's office for the specific task of fighting drugs, sheriff Jeff Grey said at a press conference on Wednesday morning. The sheriff's department already has jurisdiction in the city limits.
Celina Police Chief Tom Wale said the departments' officers will share information regarding drug activity; computers have been set up at both offices to exchange data. The Ohio Attorney General's Office also is working with the unit to set up a community group to assist those wanting to get off drugs.
Squad members aim to "take the community back from the heroin problem," according to Grey and Wale.
"We're coming after you," Grey warned those involved with drugs. "You think we've been working hard on getting drugs off the street before now. Well, now we're going to hit it hard."
"It won't be like in the past where the sheriff's department worked on a case, and we were working on the same case," Wale said. "This time we'll be working the same case together. Along with the Grand Lake Task Force, we intend to get rid of the drugs in this community. It's a decent, hard-working community and we want to keep it that way."
Wale said joining forces will increase efficiency, with arrests being made more quickly.
"We won't both be spinning our wheels working the same cases," Wale said.
One of their first joint efforts resulted in an arrest Tuesday.
Police had received a tip of drug transactions at 245 Leona St., Celina. Just after 3:30 p.m., officers from both departments accompanied by a police department K-9 unit served a search warrant, Grey said.
A resident of the home, Andrew Hesse, 33, was arrested and charged with one count of trafficking, Grey said. Hesse appeared in Celina Municipal Court Wednesday morning where his bond was set at $100,000. He remains in the Mercer County Detention Center and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing the case.
More than 20 capsules testing positive for heroin and valued at about $400 were found, Wale said. Officers also found several hundred dollars in cash as well as a spoon and a syringe, Grey said.
Officers hope their efforts will create more community involvement in fighting drug activity.
"Last month we put up door hangers that describe what to look for regarding drug activity and how to reach us," Grey said. "We placed those hangers at mobile home parks east of Celina along state Route 703 and on the south side of the lake along state Route 219 and in Mendon and parts of Coldwater. Now we're going to expand into Celina."
Grey said 24 tips have been generated since the hangers were distributed.
Wale said in the next couple of weeks, officers will begin placing the hangers in parts of the city known to have drug dealings.
"Our message is for the drug dealers to figure it out," Grey said. "You are on our radar screen and we are coming after you. We are taking our community back."
