OVERDOSE DEATH LEADS TO MUNCIE TEEN'S ARREST

MUNCIE -- An investigation into the death of a young man in an
apparent overdose this week led to the arrest of his drug dealer,
according to authorities.

Thomas Lee Saunders Jr., 20, was discovered lifeless Monday morning
at a friend's house in the 200 block of North Pershing Street with a
fentanyl patch on his left shoulder, according to police reports.

Later that day police arrested Joshua Corwin, 18, 610 S. Council St.,
on preliminary charges of dealing in a schedule II controlled
substance, a class B felony carrying a standard 10-year prison term,
and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.

Fentanyl is a painkiller that is 80 more times potent than morphine,
according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The drug is available
in a patch, much like a nicotine patch, that illegal users sometimes
chew or melt and inject intravenously for an instant high, according
to area coroners.

Fentanyl abuse became apparent in Delaware County in 2003 when the
drug claimed the lives of four people in six months and nearly killed
two Eaton teenagers.

Fentanyl-related deaths have resurfaced sporadically since then,
Delaware County Coroner James Clevenger said.

"Fentanyl is kind of the new problem we are being faced with," Clevenger said.

The coroner estimated he has investigated about 12 fentanyl-related
deaths in the past five years, including two or three this year.

Those numbers are comparable to overdoses attributed to more commonly
known street and prescription drugs such as cocaine, heroin and
Valium, Clevenger said.

Blackford County Coroner Tod Waters said illegal fentanyl use is part
of an increasing prescription drug problem. He has investigated nine
accidental fatal drug overdoses in 30 months and almost all involved
combinations of prescription drugs.

Clevenger has not made an official ruling in Saunders's death, but an
autopsy ruled out all possible causes of death except overdose, he said.

Saunders had also been drinking, Clevenger said. It is unknown
whether alcohol or other drugs aside from fentanyl also might have
contributed to the death.

"We do suspect that illegal drug use was the cause of this young
man's death," Clevenger said. "That has not been proven until I get
lab work back. But we have pretty much ruled everything else out."

The probable cause affidavit for Corwin's arrest said Corwin admitted
to selling both marijuana and a fentanyl patch to Saunders on Saturday.

A friend of Saunders led police to Corwin, according to reports.

While serving a search warrant on Corwin's residence, police reported
finding hydrocodone and marijuana.

Corwin was being held without bond Tuesday in the Delaware County jail.