HEROIN HAUNTS NORTHEAST TARRANT

Heroin continued to have a deadly impact on Northeast Tarrant County this
year, killing five area residents and prompting authorities to begin
pursuing federal charges against dealers suspected of selling even the
smallest quantities of the opiate. Deaths involving heroin use also
occurred in Denton, Plano, Allen and Lake Dallas.

The region has been declared a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which
will combine local, state and federal resources to improve
intelligence-gathering techniques and to coordinate investigations.

Northeast Tarrant's 1998 heroin death toll began Sept. 29 when Sonja Dee
Cardenas, 32, of Bedford died after using heroin and cocaine. On Oct. 7,
Stephanie Angela Holley, 18, of Bedford was found dead, and tests showed
that heroin caused her death. About three weeks later, Kristen Taylor, 19,
died at a North Richland Hills hospital after a three-year battle with
heroin addiction. Tests showed that she died after using heroin and cocaine.

On Oct. 31, Reef Dylan Mask, 21, of Haltom City died after using heroin and
cocaine, tests showed. The year's oldest heroin victim, 48-year-old Claude
Pittmon of Bedford, was found dead by his wife in their home. Tests
revealed that heroin also killed him.

More than two dozen people in North Texas have died in the past two years
after using heroin. In most cases, a more potent form of the drug, black
tar heroin, has been used.

In Plano, an effort among local, state and federal law enforcement
personnel resulted in a 36-count indictment against 29 people in July. Some
of those indicted are being prosecuted with a sentencing enhancement, which
means that prosecutors are attempting to prove that heroin supplied by the
defendants resulted in death.

Checked-by: Richard Lake