Police said they have arrested a drug dealer in whose Bloomington home they found drug paraphernalia, a large amount of cash and drugs including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, Xanax, psychedelic mushrooms and nearly eight pounds of crystal meth.
Lamelle T. Johnson Jr., 37, of 601 S. Park Square Drive, was arrested at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, on five Level 2 felonies, including dealing in methamphetamine and cocaine. A Level 2 felony can result in a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
According to court records, the Bloomington Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit in September surveilled Johnson’s two-story townhouse-style apartment, near Highland Park Elementary School. After a confidential informant bought drugs from the suspected dealer, police obtained a search warrant from Judge Darcie Fawcett at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Police searched Johnson’s home and car at about 9:48 a.m. that day and, according to court documents, found drugs and paraphernalia, including digital scales, surveillance systems, firearms and ammunition “in multiple locations inside the apartment.”
Police said they recovered, among other things:
Estimates on the street value of drugs vary by region and purity, but the meth alone can easily be worth $70,000, according to federal authorities.
“That was a big drug hit,” Capt. Ryan Pedigo, the police department’s public information officer, said Thursday morning.
Detective Wade Berry wrote in court documents that Johnson waived his right to have a lawyer present during an interview and said he is a “drug user and has used all of the drugs located and his residence.”
Court documents show Johnson also told the detective that he was “only ‘holding’ the controlled substances and firearms for a friend,” — though the detective did not believe that Johnson was telling the truth.
Berry wrote that he ended the interview because Johnson “continued to be dishonest with me.”
As of Thursday afternoon, Johnson had been released on bond.
According to a federal government report from last year, the U.S. “faces a continuing overdose crisis in part due to the rise of methamphetamine-related overdoses.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates about 37,021 fatal overdoses involving drugs in the methamphetamine category … in the 12-month rolling total ending in October 2023,” the report read.
The federal government reported just under 6,000 fatal methamphetamine-related overdoses in 2016.
“This statistic reflects a disturbing increase in historical trends,” the report read. “Findings from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health … report suggest that an estimated 2.7 million people aged 12 or older reported using methamphetamine in the past year, including approximately 2.5 million adults aged 26 or older.”
According to the CDC, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased from 8.9 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2003 to 32.6 in 2022, before dipping to 31.3 in 2023.
The CDC said in May that drug overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington police arrest suspected drug dealer after search uncovers 7.7 pounds of meth
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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