Authorities search for supplier after near-fatal heroin overdose

By Alex Bridges

abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- City rescue workers used a lifesaving drug to keep a man from dying of a heroin overdose last week.

But authorities now want to know the supplier of the drugs that nearly killed the man.
Responders from the South End Fire and Rescue Station went to 22 W. Monmouth St. for an overdose in Apt. 2 on Thursday. They found Johnnie J. Watts lying in the foyer of the apartment building and not breathing, according to an affidavit filed in Winchester Circuit Court for a warrant sought to search the residence. Rescue workers revived Watts by administering Narcan, a drug used to reverse or prevent the effects of opiates such as heroin.

"After being revived, Watts advised Officers he had used heroin within the apartment complex," the affidavit states. "Through an interview of Watt's girlfriend, Sandra Luckenbaiugh, she advised she had observed Watts snort the heroin."

The witness told officers Watts bought the heroin for $50 from a person named "Nate" who lived at the Monmouth Street address, according to the affidavit.

Upon receiving the information, officers returned to the Monmouth Street apartment but no one answered a knock at the door, the affidavit states. A resident in another apartment allowed an officer into that residence. The officer walked through the apartment to an outside staircase and went to the rear door of Apt. 2 that appeared partially open, the affidavit states. The officer yelled for "Nate" but no one answered. The three officers entered the kitchen threshold to check the security of the apartment, according to the affidavit. At that time an officer saw a syringe on a kitchen shelf in plain view, the affidavit states.

No one was seen inside the apartment, according to the affidavit.

An officer later advised Sgt. Josiah McPeak that Nate Mellon arrived at the apartment while the sergeant attempted to obtain the search warrant, the affidavit states.
According to the warrant inventory filed Monday, authorities seized three syringes, capped and uncapped, containing residue; a plastic bottle cap with residue; a white ashtray with two burnt marijuana cigarettes; a red container with flakes of a green, plant-like substance; a digital scale; a tin lid with residue; two clear containers containing a clear liquid; a silver spoon containing black residue; and a purple and yellow glass smoking device with black residue.

Court records and police arrest records show no one by the name of Nate Mellon charged with any crimes as of Monday.