Charges of drug-induced homicide filed against a Waukegan man Thursday capped a more than three-month effort by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to target drug dealers and reduce the availability of heroin on the streets.
In all, authorities say 53 people were charged with drug crimes as a result of Operation Front Line, including a suspect charged in the drug overdose death of a man in Antioch Township.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Christopher Covelli said Darrin S. Reed, 32, of the 600 block of N. Martin Avenue in Waukegan, was arrested and charged Thursday with drug-induced homicide and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance in connection with the death of 25-year-old Joseph Bond.
Bond died of a heroin overdose on June 13 in unincorporated Antioch Township, Covelli said.
Reed, who authorities said supplied Bond the heroin that killed him, is currently being held in the Lake County Jail on $950,000 bail and has a court appearance scheduled Friday.
Covelli said a search warrant executed at Reed’s home resulted in the discovery of 22 grams of heroin and nearly $6,000 in cash.
From June 8 through Aug. 1, the sheriff’s office conducted the operation, aimed at arresting heroin dealers. Covelli said the operation specifically focused on the northwest quadrant of Lake County. Members of the sheriff’s Highway Patrol Division, Warrants Division, Criminal Investigations Division and Gang Task Force collaborated, focusing their efforts on the heroin epidemic.
“We as a community must all work together to put an end to all of the lives which are lost to drug abuse,” Undersheriff Ray Rose said in a statement Thursday. “The heroin epidemic continues to spread and we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines as countless lives are lost. If you suspect someone of abusing drugs, seek help for them. (If) you suspect someone of dealing drugs, call us.”
Covelli said members of the Highway Patrol Division identified target areas of drug trafficking in patrol districts, worked with informants to develop additional leads on drug dealers, and provided those leads to the Criminal Investigations Division and Sheriff’s Gang Task Force. The Highway Patrol Division cultivated more than 15 active leads, which led to several drug-related arrests, he said.
The Criminal Investigations Division responded to all drug overdose-related calls, officials said, and detectives developed leads from victims and witnesses in those overdose-related investigations concerning who supplied the drugs. Detectives worked with the Gang Task Force to further the investigations and obtain arrest warrants.
The sheriff’s office’s School Safety Team also sent fliers to all schools in the sheriff’s jurisdiction outlining safety tips to remind parents to discuss drug abuse with their children.
Authorities continue to investigate several additional drug dealers who were identified during Operation Front Line, officials said.
“Drugs kill, destroy lives, destroy families, and destroy promising futures, plain and simple,” Sheriff Mark Curran said in a prepared statement. “While this operation may be over, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will be relentless in the pursuit of tracking down drug dealers who sell these poisons in our neighborhoods. I’m extremely proud of the hard work and collaboration that went into this operation.”
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