The Pike County Sheriff’s Office has issued a warning to those who choose to use heroin and other illegal drugs.
The Sheriff’s Office said there has been an increase in heroin and other illegal drugs laced with Carfentanil, or animal tranquilizer.
The laced drugs are what the Pike County Sheriff’s Office believes led to multiple overdoses including the death of an 18-year-old.
The Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a home on Germany Road south of Beaver, Ohio Wednesday night for a report of an unconscious 29-year-old woman suspected of overdosing on heroin.
When deputies arrived, the Sheriff’s Office said they conducted CPR until medics arrived and gave the woman Naloxone.
The Sheriff’s Office said the woman regained consciousness and she was taken to Adena Pike Medical Center in Waverly where she was treated and released.
A couple hours later, the Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to an apartment on First Street in Beaver for two unconscious people who had possibly overdosed.
The Sheriff’s Office said an 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were found in an upstairs bathroom where deputies started CPR on the man until medics arrived.
The woman was breathing shallow according to deputies.
Medics gave Naloxone to the man and woman according to the Sheriff’s Office and took the woman to Adena Pike Hospital.
The Sheriff’s Office said she is now in the ICU at Riverside Hospital in Columbus.
The Sheriff’s Office said 18-year-old Anthony Austin Meadows was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation revealed the alleged heroin used in all three overdoses was being used or sold out of a home in Beaver according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies took two people into custody as persons of interest and arrested another woman and charged her in connection to the overdoses.
Loretta Martin, 39, is charged with two counts of endangering children, two counts of corrupting another with drugs and two counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs. All of the charges are felonies.
The Sheriff’s Office said chief investigator Major Tracy Evans will also look to charge Martin with involuntary manslaughter because of Meadows’ death.
The case will go to a grand jury according to the Sheriff’s Office.
