HEROIN DEATH IN VINELAND

VINELAND -- A city man died Thursday after apparently injecting a
lethal dose of heroin, just two weeks after he was arrested for
overdosing on the drug behind the wheel of his van, police said.

Josue R. Colon, 36, of North Valley Avenue, became the first fatality
of nearly 20 overdoses in the city in the last month.

He was found in his bathroom with a belt tied around his arm and
blood dripping from a needle mark, police said.

His wife called 911, but he was dead when Vineland EMS arrived.

Police have been trying to combat the growing drug use problem in the
city by adding more patrols to target drug dealers and users.

Det. Lt. Tom Ulrich said, however, that there are too many sources out there.

He said they can keep getting dealers off the street, but the drugs
will continue to pour in from elsewhere.

Most of the heroin blamed for recent overdoses is believed to be
coming from Atlantic City, Camden and the Philadelphia area.

Colon's overdose was the third last week.

Luz M. Roman, 30, of East Cornell Street, was found unconscious in
her friend's bathroom last Tuesday afternoon, according to a police report.

She woke up when police arrived and was treated at the South Jersey
Healthcare-Regional Medical Center.

Roman claimed she only used one bag of heroin and said she wanted to
sign a complaint against the person who put poison in her heroin.

She was unable to say who she bought it from.

Bryant Goldsboro, 45, was taken to the hospital Wednesday after his
girlfriend called police and said two unidentified men dragged him up
her concrete steps and left him unconscious on her couch, police said.

The overdoses are believed to be linked to the lethal heroin laced
with fentanyl being blamed for more than 400 deaths in the last
several months across the U.S.

At least 150 fentanyl deaths have been recorded in the Philadelphia region.

Authorities are hoping that a recent raid at a laboratory in Mexico
may have eliminated the main production site of fentanyl, which is a
drug that can lead to respiratory failure so quickly that one addict
in Philadelphia died before he even finished shooting up.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.