Frustration with heroin addiction displayed on flyers in Claymont

Posters warning of a drug dealer selling a mixture of heroin and fentanyl in Claymont appeared earlier this week along Philadelphia Pike and nearby neighborhoods, some of which have endured the state's highest heroin-related incidents.  

The posters, which were anonymously taped onto Redbox machines, business windows and even a bus stop, carried the name and images of the supposed dealer and a cautionary tale about how the dealer had caused a death "because he don't care for I's life and thinks money is more important."

Because the man has not been convicted of the crimes the poster claims he committed, The News Journal is not using his name or image.

"It seems to have tapped into a real nerve," said Trish Donahue, who first saw the posters outside her pharmacy near Claymont. Donahue said working in the medical field gives her an extra insight into the depths of addiction in that area. This includes seeing parents purchasing medications, such as Suboxone, to help their children battle opiate addiction.

"From where I sit, it seems to be everywhere. It just doesn't have boundaries," said Donahue, who received a lot of positive reaction after sharing the poster on Facebook. "It was a bold move, and I'd like to think that it's something I would have done if I needed to." 

State police recorded 56 heroin incidents in Claymont in 2015. This is a nearly 833 percent jump from 2010 when there were six heroin incidents. It is one of the top three ZIP codes in the state for heroin-related incidents as of 2015, according to state police.

The posters show the frustration many in the area are feeling as increasing heroin use leaves more addicted and dead in its wake, say family members who've lost a loved one.

"Right after you lose someone, you're so angry that you just have to do something," said Linda Bucci, whose daughter died in 2015 from a fatal mix of heroin; alcohol; and fentanyl, a painkiller used to treat terminally ill cancer patients that is often "cut" into heroin.

More than one-third of Delaware's 308 fatal overdoses in 2016 can be attributed to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller that has tripled the number of overdoses related to this drug over the previous year, according to state officials. 

The drug – which can be passed off as heroin because of its white powdery appearance but is considered 50 times more powerful – has ravaged the state and the nation, prompting warnings from officials and health concerns for treatment providers.

In just over five hours on March 26, four people were dead in homes throughout New Castle County, and all indications pointed to heroin, police said. The first of these deaths, a young woman, occurred in Claymont.

STORY: Delaware fentanyl-related overdoses triple in 2016

STORY: As Delaware heroin deaths rise, more treatment options sought

The deaths have left many loved ones feeling helpless. 

"You feel like your hands are tied, that you have no control over anything," Bucci said, approving of the poster as a way to fight back. "I wouldn't think of the danger. I would think of just helping other people and getting this person out of there."

Bucci's daughter, Tina Werkheiser, died about a quarter mile from Clearfield Village, the Claymont community where the man named in the poster is said to sell the drug. 

Several residents of Clearfield Village, a community of A-frame rowhouses and brick multi-unit structures, said they'd heard of the poster but did not know the person depicted in it. 

At least two residents of Fourth Avenue, a stretch of road inhabited by some unkempt houses that include a box mattress on the porch and the scent of marijuana emanating from another, said that while the community gets a bad rap, no one forces people to "stick a needle in their arm."

Michael McNair, who was on Fourth Avenue on Thursday, acknowledged that heroin is sold on the block-long street. But he disputed the man in the poster was dealing it. 

"That is very untrue," McNair said. "I know him. That's my family."

"It's a defamation of character."

A search through Superior Court found two drug convictions that occurred nearly eight years ago when the man was 18 – a possession with intent to deliver marijuana and maintaining a vehicle for the keeping of drugs. The most recent criminal conviction was in 2013 for a burglary.  

McNair and others have been ripping down the posters, adding he's collected about 45 of them. He said that his cousin has not been in the community in about a month and said the man is as shocked about the posters.

"I don't know why someone would want to single him out when there's plenty of other people that's out here doing that," he said. 

Attempts to contact the man were not successful. 

Officer First Class JP Piser, a spokesman for the New Castle County Police, said officers are aware of the posters, but said the best way to report crime is for someone to directly contact law enforcement.

This can even be done anonymously by calling the department’s non-emergency number, (302) 573-2800, or by submitting a tip via the department's website at www.nccpd.com. Tipsters also may call Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 or visit the department’s Facebook page at New Castle County Police Department.

"If you have information that you believe is actionable, we want to know it," Piser said. "Especially when it deals with fentanyl-laced heroin."

Dave Humes, a board member for atTAcK Addiction, a grassroots organization fighting addiction in Delaware, said understands the anger someone has when they lose a loved one to heroin or any other addiction. Humes lost his son, Gregory Hill Humes, to heroin in May of 2012.

But he cautions people from taking matters into their own hands, such as the person who posted the flyers. 

"If this guy is, in fact, a dealer, there's enough to be concerned about such as retribution," he said. "Or he could be someone who is innocent but was just a using partner or a person's friend."

While everyone has to find their best way to fight back, Humes said, he suggests helping save the lives of others fighting addictions. 

"My remedy and my way forward was rather than to do something that I wasn't capable of doing and become a detective or police officer ... and chasing this guy down myself," he said. "My course was that I wanted to save somebody's life in my son's name." 

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.