Kane County and DuPage County Sheriff’s Offices team up to target suppliers of illegal narcotics
KANE COUNTY – Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick announced a new agreement between the two counties that will allow them to work together, on both sides of the counties’ boundaries, to go after the sources of opioids and fentanyl.
Sheriffs Hain and Mendrick signed the agreement on Nov. 4, which will now consolidate the efforts of their street-level tactical teams.
According to a joint statement from the two sheriff’s offices, in the past, both agencies have been hampered by staffing issues when it came to being able to track down the sources of illegal narcotics.
“Working together in these ways makes a statement. We owe it to our communities, especially those members who are the victims of addiction, to go after the people that bring this poison into our area,” said Mendrick. “Unfortunately, the dealers don’t care about jurisdictional boundaries. This is a step towards making sure that those same boundaries don’t affect our abilities to take it off the street.”
Hain added that these efforts are to target dealers who destroy communities.
“We will continue to make our rehabilitation efforts first and foremost when we encounter people addicted to these narcotics,” said Hain. “But to the people bringing it into the area, we won’t show any compassion. They simply bring it in to make a profit and don’t care about the devastation it leaves behind.”
DuPage and Kane counties have extensive and successful rehabilitation programs, both inside and out of their correctional institutions.
Mendrick and Hain agree that working with people who are suffering from addiction rather than locking them away without any alternative is the only path toward rehabilitation.
The two county sheriffs also agree that assisting those with addictions doesn’t take away their responsibility to go after those who are providing the drugs.
“The decision was easy,” Mendrick further stated. “We already collaborate our efforts to combat online child pornography and online exploitation of children with great effect. This is just an extension of the shared resources that have already proven successful.”
The news comes just after the Kane County Sheriff’s Office announced a fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking arrest made in the area of Dundee Avenue and Seneca Avenue in Elgin.
The sheriff’s office stated that on Oct. 28, agency detectives began working with United States Postal Inspectors on an investigation of narcotics being trafficked through the mail.
Dante Howse, 28, of Hoffman Estates was taken into custody after a routine traffic stop led detectives to search Howse’s vehicle due to him having taken possession of a suspicious package.
“During the course of the stop, probable cause was gained and a search of the vehicle yielded two pounds of M-30 OxyContin pills and over one kilogram of AD-30 ‘Adderall’ pills,” said the Kane County Sheriff’s Office in a statement. “It was discovered that these pills were manufactured on the black market and not by a legitimate pharmaceutical company. The M-30 pills actually contained Fentanyl and the AD-30 pills contained methamphetamine.”
Following the arrest, Howse was charged with several Class X felonies which included: “Controlled Substance Trafficking, Methamphetamine Trafficking, Possession with the Intent to Deliver more than 900 grams of Fentanyl, Possession with the Intent to Deliver more than 900 grams of Methamphetamine, and Possession of more than 900 grams of Methamphetamine,” according to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.
