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.
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