EASTERN IOWA FACES UNLIKELY OUTBREAK OF HEROIN

The case of a 13-year-old runaway from Minneapolis who was kidnapped
and brought to eastern Iowa has led to investigations of child
prostitution and heroin trafficking, rare crimes in rural America.

"I think it's an important and compelling case for people to know
about," Assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams said of child sex
charges against Demont Cortez Bowie, 26, an alleged one-time
Minneapolis gang member who had moved to Wellman, Ia.

The Bowie investigation was a window into a drug ring connected to a
rash of heroin deaths and overdoses in eastern Iowa, law enforcement
officers said. After a woman who overdosed on heroin last March in
Wellman said she got the drug from Bowie, "We started asking
questions about (Bowie's) drug activity," Washington County
investigator Mike Clark said.

An Iowa County heroin death was also connected to the Bowie
investigation, said Sheriff Nick Roggentien.

Williams declined to confirm a link between the Bowie case and a
heroin probe, saying he could not acknowledge an ongoing investigation.

Records show that the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern
District of Iowa has charged six Cedar Rapids residents in the last
six months with distributing heroin, and Williams did say he was
alarmed by the 24 heroin deaths in Iowa in 2004 and 2005 -- 20 of
which occurred in eastern Iowa.

Bowie, who Clark said was known to give out samples of heroin to
promote sales in eastern Iowa, was a small player in a larger game of
prostitution and drugs, investigators said.

Authorities say Bowie came to their attention after an incident that
began on March 17, 2005, in Minneapolis. Records say Bowie picked up
a 13-year-old girl, referred to in court records as M.B.

Bowie, who had been living in Wellman, visited the Twin Cities to
check in with his parole officer, he told U.S. Magistrate John A.
Jarvey during a Jan. 6 hearing in which he pleaded guilty of
kidnapping as part of a plea deal.

Bowie, known in earlier days as "D-Boy" to members of the Bloods
street gang in Minneapolis, was on parole after serving prison time
for assault charges in 1999, Minnesota court records show.

Bowie told prosecutors that the 13-year-old girl performed oral sex
on him and that he forced her to have oral sex with an auto mechanic
in exchange for a discount on van repairs. Once in Iowa, Bowie
prostituted the girl for money and drugs, prosecutors said.

Toni Debler, Bowie's ex-girlfriend, said he told her the girl was 18.
The girl stayed at Debler's Wellman house for a couple of weeks after
they returned from Minneapolis, but Debler said she did not know
Bowie had involved the girl in prostitution.

Last Easter Sunday, March 27, Bowie took the 13-year-old to the
Williamsburg house his father, Robert Andre Sallis Sr., 47, shared
with Betty Jo Thompson, 34. Bowie got into a fight with his father
and fled when police showed up, prosecutors said.

The girl stayed behind, where "Bowie's father, together with his
girlfriend, employed the girl in prostitution in northeast Iowa,
including Cedar Rapids" from March 28 to mid-April, according to a
Jan. 6 news release from the U.S. attorney.

Sallis and Thompson have not been charged in the case.

Meanwhile, Bowie's reputation was growing in Wellman, Clark said. He
was picked up for drunken driving on March 26 and officers later got
an anonymous report that he was carrying a gun, Clark said. He also
persuaded a Wellman man with a valid driver's license to drive him up
to Iowa City to sell drugs, Clark said.

"He started cutting a pretty wide swath," Clark said of Bowie.

In late March, a 911 call alerted officers to a possible heroin
overdose at a Wellman house, Clark said. The young woman, who
originally thought she might have been raped while in a
heroin-induced stupor, said Bowie gave her the drug, Clark said. "She
doesn't remember a thing after that," he said.

In late April, the 13-year-old girl, who had taken a bus back to
Minnesota and is now with her parents, wrote a letter to the
Washington County Sheriff's Department describing the kidnapping and
prostitution, Clark said. The letter was forwarded to the U.S.
attorney's office, which later charged Bowie.

Bowie was arrested June 10 at a Coralville apartment. His sentencing
date on the federal kidnapping charge to which he pleaded guilty has
not yet been set.

He faces 20 years to life in prison, but how much time he serves will
depend on the information he provides federal prosecutors, Williams said.

"He has knowledge of other people who had contact with this girl,"
Williams said.

Bowie also has knowledge about the source of the high-purity heroin
coming into eastern Iowa, Washington County's Clark said. "He's a
little fish in the bigger scheme of life," he said.

The heroin charges filed by Williams against five men and one woman
range from conspiring to deliver more than 100 grams of the drug to
distributing heroin within 1,000 feet of a Cedar Rapids elementary
school. Five have been found guilty or made plea deals. Paperwork on
those charges does not mention Bowie.

Heroin, an opiate that slows a user's heartbeat and breathing,
usually comes to Iowa from Chicago, said Marvin Van Haaften, director
of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy. When the drug was
first popular in the 1970s, it was less than 10 percent pure.

The purity of heroin found recently in eastern Iowa has been as great
as 80 percent, said Rick LaMere, a federal Drug Enforcement
Administration agent in Cedar Rapids.

Drug dealers in Iowa may be seeking a new market for heroin by
offering the high-purity product, which can be snorted instead of
injected, LaMere said. This avoids the risk and stigma of needles.

"Meth used to be very pure at a cheaper price," LaMere said about
methamphetamine, which has been one of Iowa's biggest drug problems
in recent years. "Meth labs are down because of the pseudoephedrine
law. Is there another drug popping up? These are the questions we are asking."

{SIDEBARS}

Heroin In Iowa: Drug On The Rise

Heroin, an opiate that slows a user's heartbeat and breathing,
usually comes from Chicago, state drug officials said. A significant
number of arrests, and heroin-related deaths, have taken place in
eastern Iowa the past two years.

14 Heroin Deaths In Iowa In 05

Heroin contributed to the deaths of 14 people in Iowa in 2005,
according to the state medical examiner's office. This is 13 percent
of all nonalcohol drug deaths -- a large share for a substance that
accounts for only a sliver of drug seizures. The Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Service Administration in 2003 reported on drug deaths
in six states. Maine and Maryland reported no deaths. Vermont had
four and New Hampshire six. While New Mexico reported 73, Utah had 33.

Increased Purity, Increased Potency

When the drug was first popular in the 1970s, it was less than 10
percent pure. The purity of heroin found recently in eastern Iowa has
been as great as 80 percent.

Connection To Iowa's Meth Laws

Iowa lawmakers have passed tough legislation to help slow meth use in
the state. The laws appear to be working. But is heroin the next drug
Iowa must tackle? "Meth labs are down because of the pseudoephedrine
law," said Rick LaMere, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration
agent. "Is there another drug popping up? These are the questions we
are asking."

The Iowa medical examiner's office reported 24 deaths in 2004 and
2005 in which heroin or its byproducts contributed to the cause of
death. Here is a breakdown by county of those deaths: 1 - Cerro
Gordo, 1- Pottawattamie, 2 - Polk, 1 - Marion, 1 - Wapello, 7 - Linn,
2 - Johnson, 1 - Johnson, 1 - Clinton, 7 - Scott. (MAP Editor Note:
These numbers shown on a map - Johnson county listed twice, once
obviously an error for county north of Clinton County.)

Demont Cortez Bowie

Demont Cortez Bowie, 26, of Wellman pleaded guilty Jan. 6 to federal
kidnapping charges for taking a 13-year-old girl from Minneapolis and
prostituting her for money and drugs. Investigation into this case
provided a window into a rash of heroin arrests and overdoses in eastern Iowa.

BOWIE HAS CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS IN IOWA AND MINNESOTA THAT INCLUDE:

FIRST-DEGREE BURGLARY*
1999, Hennepin County, Minn.

SECOND-DEGREE ASSAULT
1999, Hennepin County, Minn.

TAMPERING WITH A WITNESS
2000, Johnson County

DRUNKEN DRIVING
June 16, 2005, Washington County

TRESPASS
Sept. 27, 2005, Johnson County

FAILURE TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER*
Sept. 29, 2005, Washington County

INTERSTATE KIDNAPPING
Jan. 6, U.S. District Court Northern District of Iowa

*Bowie was required to register as a sex offender after the 1999
burglary conviction because it was considered a predatory offense.

Source: Court records