Pubdate: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 1999 The Sun-Times Co. Contact: http://www.suntimes.com/index/ Author: Frank Main, Crime Reporter DUPAGE KIDS TIED TO CITY DRUG BUYS The letter from police to parents from Glen Ellyn to Naperville must have been heart-stopping: Sometime this year, your car was used in a West Side heroin deal. As part of an ongoing sting aimed at stemming the tide of suburbanites trekking to Chicago to buy drugs, police sent out 70 letters to the owners of cars used in drug buys, police said Tuesday. Some of the suspected buyers were DuPage County teens. In 40 instances, arrests were made. DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba said he was unaware of any fatal heroin overdoses among DuPage County teens this year--and hopes the July-October, multijurisdictional sting helped explain why. "The word is out that law enforcement is out there taking down license plates," Zaruba said. "If one of those letters saved a life, that's all I care about." The operation was launched last summer at the urging of Zaruba and Naperville Police Chief David Dial, who became alarmed last year when two youths died of heroin overdoses in Lisle and Naperville. Dial and Zaruba--both members of the DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, which oversaw the investigation--decided to target the West Side with the Chicago Police Department's help after a suspected dealer from the city was arrested in the suburbs with heroin, Zaruba said. "We went to the source to stop it on that end," he said. In July and August, DuPage County investigators and Chicago police witnessed suspected drug deals in an area south of the Eisenhower Expy., north of Roosevelt Road, east of Cicero Avenue and west of Independence Blvd., said Mark Henry, director of the enforcement group. They didn't make any arrests then, but took down the license plates of about 30 vehicles from Naperville, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn and other middle class DuPage County suburbs and sent warning letters to the owners of the cars. The initial stage of the investigation involved information-gathering only. The second phase involved making arrests. One Hanover Park man, who asked not to be identified, said his fiancee received one such letter on Tuesday about a friend of the couple who was leasing a car from them. "He'd hit rock bottom twice on drugs, and I tried to help him," the car's owner said. "Now I feel betrayed. I'm going over there to get my car back." In September and October, Chicago police posed as heroin dealers and conducted three reverse stings in the neighborhood. About 40 DuPage County residents, mostly adults, were among those arrested, Henry said. Again, DuPage County authorities, who monitored the stings, sent letters to the owners of the cars used in those deals. "There are a lot of good people out there who don't know exactly what someone is borrowing their vehicle for," he said. "We wanted to give them a heads-up." Philip Cline, commander of the Chicago police narcotics section, said Chicago police were only too glad to cooperate with DuPage County authorities by identifying drug-buying hot spots on the West Side frequented by suburbanites. "The customer buying drugs here is committing burglaries in the suburbs to pay for the drugs," he said. "So it's a crime problem in the suburbs, too." Several parents wrote back to police, Henry said, "saying they were unaware their cars were being used in the area and that they would talk to their children." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea