SMETHPORT – With high expectations, McKean County District
Attorney John Pavlock and the drug task force are working to “rid
McKean County of all illegal drug activity.”
“We realize that, regrettably, it won’t completely happen, but
what we do expect to accomplish is to make it as difficult as we
can for drug trafficking to occur in the county,” said Pavlock.
“We want drug dealers to be nervous that we are here and
therefore to limit their trade,” he said. “We want to limit the
drug activity to the greatest extent we can.”
While they do this, the task force will work to educate the
public – including young people and their parents – about the
dangers of illegal drugs.
It’s their goal to “get the entire community to work together to
address the problem.”
“The only way to be successful is if the entire community is
involved,” Pavlock added.
McKean County Detective Gerald Okerlund said, “We get some,
maybe not as much as we can get. The anonymous tip-line might help
to bring more calls. Nobody has to worry where the information came
from.”
The hotline number for calls is 887-3232. Okerlund and Pavlock
say people can call and say who they are or remain anonymous,
whichever way they want the call to be.
“And the more detailed the better,” added Okerlund. “Whether it
is through a letter or a call.”
Additionally, Pavlock said that people who call the task force
with information should not be discouraged by the amount of time it
may take for them to get something done.
“We want to try a case that is beyond a reasonable doubt,” he
said. “We are watching – we use the information. If we don’t get
the initial call, there may never be an arrest. We need (the
tips).”
McKean County took over the administration of the Drug Task
Force in February. It had been under the direction of the state
attorney general’s office before then.
Officials believe having a local drug task force will help
curtail drug trafficking, and at this time, the task force is up
and running. Pavlock adds that they are always working to improve
and expand their operations.
“It is like a building project that needs a good foundation,”
said Pavlock. “A lot of officers and the county detective have
worked very hard to develop a solid operating system.”
He added that they have been able to develop better surveillance
systems by first seeing and hearing what is going on, and then
acting on it.
Pavlock adds that the cost of the task force is completely
covered by the attorney general’s office, and that there is no cost
to the county for its existence.
Okerlund added, “Could we use more funding? Absolutely.”
Pavlock agreed, “We are stretching what we have as far as we
possibly can.”
At this time, there are no exact statistics on how bad the drug
problem is in McKean County, but officials say there is a
problem.
“We can only see from cases now and recently that there are
definite and significant sales of all types in the county,” said
Pavlock.
The types of drugs seen most often in McKean County, as listed
by Pavlock, include marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crack-cocaine,
illegal use of prescription drugs, and oxycontin. He did say they
have seen evidence of methamphetamine use.
In addition to the drug problem itself, Okerlund said burglaries
are escalating all the time. He explained that stolen items could
be traded or sold in exchange for drugs.
“Anything that has any value, they are going to do it,” said
Okerlund. “It’s a habit, they need to do so much a day. They need
to get the money to support it – to keep them going.”
He said it is not uncommon to see some kids steal from not only
their parents, but their grandparents and other relatives.
Pavlock added, “There are people who have come to us who have
got hooked into drug use, nobody sets a goal. Those people are the
best resources we have to help prevent kids and others from going
through the same thing.
“If they think about it, they can help someone from going down
the same path, they should contact us,” he said.
Okerlund said they have found that heroin use is “occurring
frequently” in the county at all age levels. He would not say where
exactly this is happening, but explained that a big target for the
sale of the drug is the youth.
“The older users and buyers need a younger market (a new
customer,)” said Okerlund. “They might try it one time when they
are out partying and it gets its claws into them and they are
hooked.”
As for methamphetamine use and labs, Pavlock said they are
investigating that drug’s use in the county at this time. He said
it could be “cooked” somewhere else, such as in a car, and then the
items used to make it dumped along the side of the road.
“It is extremely toxic, anyone who finds it (or items such as
coolers) propane tanks, coffee filters that look red and used –
stay away and contact someone to remove it,” said Pavlock.
In fact, explained the two men, it is so toxic that there is a
special state police team that must come in to clean up the
sites.
“It’s a hazardous material situation,” said Okerlund.
But both men say they have been working very hard to try to
curtail the presence of and selling of drugs in the area.
“But there is a policy and procedure, we take a chance if we
work without those,” Pavlock said. “Officers are working hours over
and above their jobs. It takes a while.”
As for drug related deaths, Pavlock said that there are no
definite numbers for a variety of reasons, but they can estimate
“roughly” two to six deaths per year caused by drug use.
“I praise the local police officers involved (and the county
detective). They have lives, and work this full-time job,” he said.
“Having this local is why it works. We hear and see what’s going
on. It’s how we need to know how to adjust to the problem.”
In an effort to thwart illegal use and sale of prescription
drugs in McKean County, District Attorney John Pavlock recently
sent a letter to area doctors and pharmacists alerting them to the
potential problem.
Within the letter, he provides examples of what law enforcement
officials in the county have discovered in some cases as a result
of what could happen if prescription drugs fall into the wrong
hands.
Along with the letter, a press release from the National Center
on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University is
included. It provides statistics including the fact that between
1992 and 2003, abuse of controlled prescription drugs doubled.
The letter to area doctors was dated Nov. 22, and Pavlock said
he has received some very positive responses.
“I greatly appreciate the positive response that I have already
received from many local doctors and pharmacists,” he told The Era
in a fax. “It is very encouraging to know that our local medical
providers are willing to devote their precious time to addressing
this issue and are genuinely committed to improving our local
community.”
Examples Pavlock provided in his letter to pharmacists and
doctors include cases that have come before McKean County Court
judges in the past year.
One such example includes the case where a Lewis Run woman was
caught removing pain patches from unconscious patients at Bradford
Regional Medical Center. Although he did not name the person who
was arrested for this crime, the reference appears to suggest the
case against Tekla Hallock who pleaded guilty for the thefts of the
patches in March. The apparent thefts were conducted between Sept.
17 and Oct. 5.
Looking through the McKean County Court file, it is evident that
the illegal use of prescription medications is on the rise, or that
at least more cases are going before the judges.
In some cases, as listed in the court stories, offenders are
found guilty of selling Oxycontin, stealing boxes of cold medicines
that may be used later to create methamphetamine, and more than one
conviction of possession with intent to deliver Oxycodone.
In the letter, Pavlock also references a case where authorities
responded to the scene of a young man who had taken a mix of
non-prescribed pills while “partying” and the fact that it resulted
in an overdose and his death.
While Pavlock points out some of the recent occurrences as
evidence of prescription drug abuse, he admits to the doctors in
the letter that he is not an expert in prescribing medications and
is not blaming anyone, but rather is trying to remind doctors that
this sort of problem is real and can happen.
Information in the release from CASA says that more than 50
percent of pharmacists and doctors blame patients “who can obtain
controlled prescription drugs by faking symptoms treated with
opioids, depressants and stimulants, visiting a number of doctors
to obtain prescriptions from each (as in doctor shopping,) and
altering prescriptions.”
Debbie Price, senior vice president of patient care services at
BRMC stresses the importance, for some patients, of these kinds of
pharmaceuticals.
“Many people need them due to their medical conditions but, as
consumers, we must be responsible with them,” she said, stressing
the importance of making sure that pharmaceuticals, especially
controlled substances, be kept secured in home settings. “We need
to be sure they’re not just sitting around – it is the patients’
responsibility to keep them in secure, locked locations once inside
their homes,” she added.
McKean County Detective Gerald Okerlund and Pavlock both
explained that prescription medications are often found when
officials and investigators are looking for some other type of drug
or while talking with a suspect of a different crime.
Also noted was the idea that criminals can make quite a bit of
money by selling the prescription pills to others, which is also an
incentive to sell them.
