Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 Source: Evansville Courier & Press (IN) Copyright: 2000 The Evansville Courier Contact: P. O. Box 268 Evansville, IN 47702-0268 Website: http://courier.evansville.net/ Author: Rick Davis DRUG DEALER EASY TO FIND, SAYS ADDICT Since drug dealers don't advertise illegal drugs, how do drug users find their fix? Steven Dirk Epsteen, 42, has only been in Evansville since April 18, and he said it didn't take him long to find a supplier for his cocaine addiction. Epsteen, who was one of 20 people arrested in a drug raid Thursday on two homes near Culver Elementary School, said any addict knows how to look for signs of drug dealers. Believe it or not, the signs are there, you just have to know how to look for them, he said. "You look at newspaper reports (about arrests) ... an addict always knows where to find drugs," said Epsteen. "Just look for a high concentration of pawn shops and people walking around on the street." Epsteen, who was milling around the Evansville Police Department headquarters on Friday, trying to find out how to get his car out of the police impound lot, minced no words when asked about his innocence or guilt. "I'm guilty," he said. "I truly have nothing to hide." Epsteen was interviewed shortly after being released on his own recognizance Friday after a probable cause hearing on a charge of possession of cocaine, which is a class D felony. However, Epsteen, who said he had previously never been arrested for drug possession, despite using cocaine since the age of 23, does take exception to the way his vehicle was pulled over by an Evansville Police Department officer. After leaving an alleged drug house on Governor Street, "I was quite a ways away and I looked in my rearview mirror, and there was a cop car way in the back bearing down on me and pulled me over," said Epsteen. "He told me that he pulled me over for erratic driving, which is not true. "That's the only thing I can fault the police on," he said. "If he had pulled me over and said 'I saw you leave that drug place back there,' it would have been a little more legitimate." A police arrest affidavit shows that Epsteen was pulled over at 4:10 p.m. Thursday atCovert and Evans avenues. The officer wrote that he saw Epsteen drive left of center as he was approaching Evans, and that Epsteen also failed to stop at a stop sign at Taylor and Evans avenues. After stopping Epsteen's car, the officer asked Epsteen to get out of the vehicle and asked if he'd been drinking, to which Epsteen replied "no." The officer then asked to search Epsteen's vehicle, and Epsteen complied. The officer reported that found one-tenth of a gram of cocaine behind an emergency brake. Epsteen said he consented to the search because "at that point, there's nothing you can do. If I'd said, 'I don't want you to search my car,' that's probable cause to let them search it." Epsteen, of Greenwood, Ind., said he had been "clean" for 99 days, up until six days ago, when he left a halfway house after completing a drug treatment program in Evansville. "That's the reason I came down here from Indy; I came down here to go to treatment," said Epsteen. Epsteen, who said he has been through three treatment programs over the years - and even enjoyed 3* years drug-free, beginning in 1995 - relapsed again in Evansville after he left the halfway house. He said he spent between $500 to $600 on cocaine during his six-day relapse. "I just kind of got lonely down here and I hadn't been going to meetings like I was going to," said Epsteen, who has a construction job in Evansville. Epsteen, who is divorced with two, teen-age children in another state, said he solely uses cocaine, and did so recreationally without problems for 10 or 12 years. "Then I started picking up little charges here and there - writing bad checks, things like that," he said, noting that he had previously been arrested for writing bad checks in another state in 1983. Epsteen has an Aug. 2 court appearance. He said he hopes to enter another drug treatment program. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D