Pubdate: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 2006 The Sun-Times Co. Contact: http://www.suntimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81 Author: Annie Sweeney And Stefano Esposito, Staff Reporters Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) MAN CHARGED IN TAINTED HEROIN DEATH In what's believed to be the first criminal case of its kind in Chicago, a reputed gang member has been charged with drug-induced homicide for allegedly selling a fatal batch of fentanyl-laced heroin to the teen-aged son of a suburban deputy police chief, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. Corey Crump, 35, of Chicago, appeared Thursday before Cook County Criminal Court Judge Raymond Myles, who set bond at $80,000, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Marcy Jensen. Crump was slated for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 12 in Violence Court (Br. 66), she added. Crump is charged with drug possession and drug-induced homicide in the June 6 death of 17-year-old Joseph Krecker -- the youngest victim among nearly 200 fentanyl fatal overdoses in Cook County since last year. Jensen said the drug-induced homicide charge is a Class X felony. "This tragedy is based on somebody's greed," Jack Krecker, a deputy chief of northwest suburban Franklin Police Department told the Sun-Times. "They tried to make more money by cutting this (heroin) with fentanyl. This greed is what killed my son." Joseph Krecker had recently graduated from Maine South High School in Park Ridge. With the support of his family, Krecker had been in rehab to overcome his drug addiction, his family and police said. But in June, he went to the West Side to buy heroin, and that's where he allegedly bought heroin from Crump. Moments before arresting Crump, police allegedly saw him remove a clear plastic bag from his pocket. The bag contained numerous tinfoil packages, according to a Chicago police arrest report. Crump then allegedly put the bag in his mouth, the report states. Since spring of last year, approximately 185 people have died in Cook County after ingesting heroin laced with fentanyl, a highly powerful synthetic drug that has been found in the U.S. drug supply and has caused hundreds of deaths in eight states. The drug, very likely manufactured in a clandestine lab, is hundreds of times stronger than morphine and heroin, and can kill instantly. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman