TAINTED DRUGS LOOKED AT FOR CAUSE OF FIVE DEATHS

STOCKTON -- Five heroin users have died since Friday after injecting
possibly tainted drugs in San Joaquin County, sheriff's officials said.

While a cause of death has not been determined in any of the cases, a
combination of witness statements, drug paraphernalia found at the scenes
and preliminary medical examinations point to heroin use, said sheriff's
spokesman Nellie Stone.

The first was Richard Wakefield, 58, of Stockton, who died Friday. Also on
Friday, Clarence Jones was found in a public restroom in Oakwood Lake in
Manteca. The Vallejo resident had been picnicking with his family at the
time of his death and went into the restroom to shoot up, said Deputy
Javier Ramos, an investigator for the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office.

Saturday, a friend found Charles Edwin Humphrey, 37, dead at the Stockton
home where they were staying. The friend told officers Humphrey collapsed
after using heroin.

Sunday, Oakland resident Patricia Caestner, 52, was found dead by her
boyfriend at his Tracy home. Also on Sunday, friends found Edward Reposa,
43, dead in a Stockton house. He spent Saturday night using heroin, and
when friends went to wake him Saturday morning, he did not respond.