Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 Source: Bradenton Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 Bradenton Herald Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58 Author: Kevin O'Horan, Nevy Wilson KILLER HEROIN HITS MANATEE Four Bradenton Deaths Blamed On Drug Abuse BRADENTON - Worries that poisoned or super-potent heroin may be for sale on local streets surfaced anew after a 23-year-old man became the latest in a growing list of deaths linked to the drug here. Michael Tippery died after a friend found him "messed up on heroin" late Saturday, the fourth such death in Manatee County in the past two weeks and 10th already this year, police say. "Using narcotics is foolish to begin with," said Bradenton Police Department Major Bill Tokajer, "but now you have an added issue that it may be tainted or more potent." As national studies show heroin gaining favor among young adults and tens of thousands of new users, local investigators blamed the drug as the likely killer of Tippery, Adam G. Stockton, Robert G. Watkins and Gary D. Reina. Stockton, 24, was found dead in his Manatee Inns apartment Saturday. Watkins, 55, was found dead in his Blue Boy motel apartment May 31, along with Reina, a day shy of his 53rd birthday. The four who lost their lives are among a growing number of heroin users. A 2001 federal study found 3.1 million people age 12 and older had tried the powerful narcotic at some time in their lives, an 11 percent increase from 2.8 million the year before. That study also found that, since the mid-1990s, an average of 125,000 people a year try heroin for the first time - two, three or four times the previous decade and numbers not seen since the mid-1970s. "We have no explanation for it," said Leah Young, a spokeswoman with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency that compiles drug-use numbers annually. Also unexplained is why the drug, a morphine derivative first discovered in 1874, has become more popular among young adults. More than 474,000 men and women surveyed in 2001 said they had used heroin in their lifetime - 67,000 just in the month before the survey. One theory officials offer for the increase is that heroin reaching the streets today is purer than in years past, allowing users to avoid the needles and injections, and worries of HIV and other needle-transmitted diseases, of older generations. "Kids are using it more these days, but not necessarily mainlining it," said Joe Kilmer, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency office in Miami. "They're snorting it, smoking it, speedballing it (mixed with cocaine), taking it in combination with other drugs. "Unfortunately, the sky's the limit. If there's a way to take a drug, these kids are finding it." More and more, they're also finding their way to hospitals and morgues. The number of heroin-related emergency room cases has climbed by nearly 50 percent, from just more than 63,000 in 1994 to more than 93,000 in 2001, the last full year for nationwide figures, according to officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And while no single agency keeps tabs on heroin-related deaths nationally, the figure in Florida alone has rocketed from 84 in 1995 to 250 last year. Tippery likely joined this year's list. The young man dropped in on a friend, looking for a place to crash late Saturday, according to police reports. Tippery fell asleep on his friend's couch and never woke up. "Messed up on heroin," was how that friend, Jason Croson, 22, later described Tippery's condition to investigators. Croson called 911 that night, but it was too late to save Tippery. Sunday, Manatee County Sheriff's detectives arrested Nicole Capobianco, 22, the woman they believe sold Tippery his heroin. She was charged with trafficking, sale and possession of heroin. Capobianco, who has a criminal history that includes arrests on charges of petty theft, battery and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, had 9 grams of heroin with her and 1.5 grams at her home, arrest records showed. She was released Monday on $17,240 bail. Detectives don't think the heroin she sold Tippery was tainted. Bradenton police still are waiting for toxicology reports on the deaths of Watkins and Reina, found at the Blue Boy motel. The reports will show, they suspect, the pair died of heroin overdose. Much like Stockton, found at his Manatee Inns home. "It's probably tainted or a higher octane than what people are used to," said Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said. "Sometimes people die literally with a needle in their arm." No matter the warning. "Warning people not to do heroin," said Dave Bristow, a spokesman with the sheriff's office, "is like warning them not to put their hands in an electrical socket." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens