“Deals Over” - 18 arrested on drug charges

Frank Denzler

A nearly year long, multi-departmental investigation into illegal drug activity in Rush County resulted in multiple arrests Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

The end result: 16 Rushville residents, one Milroy woman and a Connersville woman were taken into custody on various drug-related charges.

Those Rushville residents arrested were:

Terry L. Adkins, 52, on a charge of dealing a controlled substance.

Eric J. Basham Sr., 42, on charges of possession of marijuana and dealing marijuana.

Rachel RJ Brady, 23, on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Tonya Renee Crump, 37, on charges of possession of marijuana and dealing marijuana.

Christa Coons-Denny, 27, on dealing a controlled substance. Her bond was listed as $100,000.

Jason Lee Dickey, 25, on charges of dealing a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and three failure to appear warrants.

Linda Heuer-Foreman, 37, on charges of possession of a controlled substance, dealing a controlled substance, unlawful selling of a legend drug and dealing a represented controlled substance.

Paul Oliver Foreman Jr., 34, dealing a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and maintaining a common nuisance.

Eric Ross Foust, 32, on charges of dealing marijuana, possession of marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance.

Yvonne Denise Fugate, 34, on charges of dealing marijuana and possession of marijuana.

Justin T. Lee, 26, on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Clayton Marriott, 39, on charges of dealing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

Lola M. Sells, 43, on charges of dealing methamphetamines, possession of methamphetamines and maintaining a common nuisance.

Tracey Michele Turner, 32, on charges of dealing methamphetamines, possession of methamphetamines and maintaining a common nuisance.

Kenneth W. (Bubba) Tye, 27, on charges of dealing methamphetamines, possession of methamphetamines, dealing a controlled substance and maintaining a common nuisance.

Justin David Wright, 22, on charges of dealing marijuana and possession of marijuana.

Also arrested were Mary Alice Collins, 62, of Milroy, on charges of dealing a controlled substance and maintaining a common nuisance, and Belinda R. Marshall, 30, of Connersville, on multiple charges of dealing a controlled substance including heroin. Marshall’s bond was listed as $100,000 set.

With warrants in hand, officers from the Rushville Police Department and the Rush County Sheriff’s Department made surprise house calls to a number of Rushville residents during the early morning hours in search of illegal drugs in a campaign aptly named by the officers, “Deals Over.”

RPD Chief of Police Ron Cameron said the ongoing investigation began nearly 12 months ago when it was learned that many of the illegal drugs distributed locally were coming from other counties.

“This investigation began with officers from several agencies gathering information and working together to make numerous buys from local drug dealers as well as out of county dealers in Franklin, Fayette and Marion Counties,” Cameron said.

In recent months, officers arrested multiple individuals locally for selling controlled substances, being in possession of illegal drugs and for being in possession of drug paraphernalia including heroin and cocaine.

“I cannot say enough about all of the offices and officers involved with the drug sweep last night and of all the assistance provided throughout the entire operation,” Cameron said.

RCSD deputy Doug Keith was the lead investigator from the county law enforcement agency and Sgt. Randy Meek from the RPD spearheaded the lengthy investigation for the RPD.

According to Cameron, Meek worked for several weeks not only locally but also with nearby Hancock County Sheriff Bud Gray and his department, the Greenfield Police led by police chief John Jester and the Hancock County Drug Enforcement Section.

“We had several officers from our department assist in serving the warrants last night and although I want to commend all of their efforts, I would like to single out Rush County deputy Doug Keith and Randy Meek from the RPD. Both of those officers put a lot of time and effort into this ongoing investigation and they did a heck of a good job. Thanks in large part to their efforts everything went very, very smoothly this morning,” Rush County Sheriff Jeff Sherwood said.

The sheriff continued by saying that he and others began the evening at around 10 p.m. Tuesday and did not conclude until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

The investigation is still ongoing.

“While I believe we can call this a successful investigation it is certainly not an end to the (local) drug problem. We will continue our efforts and once again we ask for the public’s assistance in combating this problem that wreaks havoc in many homes and families throughout our community,” Cameron said.

“Things went very well and were aided by the efforts by Rush County Prosecutors office and the working relationship between the RPD, the RCSD and the Indiana State Police. I also want to say that Sheriff Gray from Hancock County and police chief John Jester of Greenfield, who gave us the manpower to accomplish these arrest. This was a different approach that we took this time to combat the local drug problem and hopefully we have made a dent in the problem. It will not go away because or as a result of these arrests but we have made a step in that direction,” Sgt. Meek said.

Assisting in the “Deals Over” campaign were personnel from the Rush County Probation Department, the Rush County Prosecutor’s officer, RCSD, RPD, Department of Family Services, the Indiana State Police and RMH Ambulance.



Frank Denzler can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 106 or via e-mail at frank.denzler@rushvillerepublican.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Web site at www.rushvillerepublican.com.

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