Drug use leads to
crime rise

Authorities link drug and alcohol abuse
to rising crime rate

[This is the first in a series of articles on drug and alcohol abuse in Wayne County.]

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE — The Wayne County District Attorney keeps warning residents  about it, and a police taskforce continues to uncover more evidence.

There’s clear and indisputable evidence that crime is on the rise in Wayne County. And, it’s connected to drug and alcohol abuse.

A week ago, a Wayne County jury took two hours to find a man guilty of robbing $1,300 from the Roundhouse True Value Hardware store. The man and his girlfriend both admitted that they were stealing to pay for their heroin addiction.

“I’m glad I got a chance to try this case and highlight what happens with heroin and what it is doing in our community,” District Attorney Mark Zimmer said at the trial.

The man, Andrew Daniel Smith, 23, who said he needed $60 to $70 a day for his habit, was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

As a result of a four-month undercover investigation into drug dealing, a Waterbury, Connecticut man was arrested in Honesdale by the State Police Vice/Narcotics Unit and the Honesdale State Police. The sting involved delivery of approximately one pound of marijuana and a smaller amount of heroin by the accused to an undercover state trooper at the K-Mart parking lot on Route 6 in Honesdale.

The man was arraigned in Waymart court and committed to Wayne County Jail pending a preliminary hearing.

This past month, another sting operation nabbed three young residents who were dealing drugs from their homes in Tafton, Fort Plain and Greeley. An undercover policeman made several purchases of marijuana and turned up LSD.

“The arrests are part of an on-going joint effort by the state police and the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office to reduce the drug trade in the county,” said a statement from the Honesdale State Police this past week.

Last year, according to Assistant District Attorney Michael Lehutsky, the taskforce investigation led to the arrest of 20 heroin and other drug dealers in Wayne and parts of Pike Counties. Most of the dealers were from Hamlin and Lackawanna.

Lehutsky said that three people in the area were responsible for 50 to 60 burglaries of homes and businesses last year. Armed burglaries are becoming more common, he said.

“It’s almost like a flood gate opening these last few years,” Lehutsky said. “Users become predators. People who are users become cultivators of other addicts. If they tell two friends that they’ll get a better deal from a particular dealer, then they get a better price. That grows exponentially. That’s what we’re seeing more and more.”

Another aspect of the issue is the marked increase in inmates at the county jail, so much so that the county has to board out several inmates in other county jails.

The most frequent type of crime, however, was drunk driving.