MAN CHARGED IN TAINTED HEROIN DEATH

In what's believed to be the first criminal case of its kind in
Chicago, a reputed gang member has been charged with drug-induced
homicide for allegedly selling a fatal batch of fentanyl-laced heroin
to the teen-aged son of a suburban deputy police chief, the Chicago
Sun-Times is reporting.

Corey Crump, 35, of Chicago, appeared Thursday before Cook County
Criminal Court Judge Raymond Myles, who set bond at $80,000,
according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Marcy
Jensen. Crump was slated for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 12 in
Violence Court (Br. 66), she added.

Crump is charged with drug possession and drug-induced homicide in
the June 6 death of 17-year-old Joseph Krecker -- the youngest victim
among nearly 200 fentanyl fatal overdoses in Cook County since last
year. Jensen said the drug-induced homicide charge is a Class X felony.

"This tragedy is based on somebody's greed," Jack Krecker, a deputy
chief of northwest suburban Franklin Police Department told the
Sun-Times. "They tried to make more money by cutting this (heroin)
with fentanyl. This greed is what killed my son."

Joseph Krecker had recently graduated from Maine South High School in
Park Ridge. With the support of his family, Krecker had been in rehab
to overcome his drug addiction, his family and police said. But in
June, he went to the West Side to buy heroin, and that's where he
allegedly bought heroin from Crump.

Moments before arresting Crump, police allegedly saw him remove a
clear plastic bag from his pocket. The bag contained numerous tinfoil
packages, according to a Chicago police arrest report. Crump then
allegedly put the bag in his mouth, the report states.

Since spring of last year, approximately 185 people have died in Cook
County after ingesting heroin laced with fentanyl, a highly powerful
synthetic drug that has been found in the U.S. drug supply and has
caused hundreds of deaths in eight states.

The drug, very likely manufactured in a clandestine lab, is hundreds
of times stronger than morphine and heroin, and can kill instantly.