Jennings County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a teenager and are investigating whether he might be involved in a deadly series of heroin overdoses.
Assisted by the Indiana State Police, deputies arrested Jordan McCarty, 18, at about 2 a.m. Wednesday when serving a search warrant on West Mark Drive in Geneva Township, said Lt. Mike Mowery, Jennings County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.
McCarty was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of a narcotic drug, possession of paraphernalia, possession of stolen property and altering the serial number on a handgun, Mowery said.
A 17-year-old female was also in the residence, which is in the Hickory Hills neighborhood of Hayden, when McCarty was arrested, Mowery said.
Mowery said the investigation is continuing and formal charges against McCarty will be filed next week.
Between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jennings County Sheriff’s Department and EMS were sent to 10 possible overdose calls, while Sheriff Gary Driver said additional overdose victims were taken to St. Vincent Jennings Hospital by family members.
As many as 17 heroin overdoses were reported in Jennings and Jackson counties Tuesday night, believed to be linked to a batch of the drug that may have been tainted with fentanyl.
The overdose reports stopped in those counties early Wednesday, but police have said there could be more depending on where the drugs were sold and whether or not users were aware of the overdoses.
Columbus police were sent to an overdose call at midnight Thursday in the 2600 block of Pavia Court, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman. The 45-year-old man was revived after receiving two doses of Narcan, a heroin overdose antidote, Harris said.
While investigating the overdoses in Jennings County, deputies and Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding sought a search warrant for the West Mark Drive home, Mowery said. Driver said Wednesday that additional arrests were coming as the investigation continues into who supplied the drugs leading to the overdoses.
Four adults in Jennings County were arrested Tuesday night on charges of possession of a controlled substance, and a Seymour man was arrested for dealing a controlled substance after all of them were revived using multiple doses of Narcan.
A full toxicology screen was performed Wednesday on the 52-year-old Country Squire Lakes woman who was one of the Jennings County overdose cases, and received two doses of Narcan but was unable to be revived early Wednesday.
Jennings County Coroner Gene Rudicel said it will take three to six weeks before the toxicology results are back about her death.
Deputies being sent out to the overdose calls in Jennings County on Tuesday night ran out of the heroin overdose antidote because many of the victims required more than one dose to be revived — and one person required four doses, Mowery said.
Jennings County EMS, St. Vincent Jennings Hospital and Indiana State Police replenished supplies of the antidote and Driver said Wednesday deputies will now carry two doses of the antidote with them on duty, instead of one that was previously issued.