DES MOINES, Iowa –On Wednesday police arrested 27 year-old Des Moines resident Jean Raoul Descolline.
The raid comes after multiple raids were carried out several days ago across the metro. Police say this dealer was unconnected to those raids, and they’ve put another major dent in Des Moines’ drug trade.
“If you are a drug dealer or a gang member you should probably look over your shoulder because we could be coming for you next,” said Des Moines Police Spokesman Paul Parizek.
Police raided Descolline’s town home at 555 SW 7th St.
They recovered:
- 1.15 pounds of meth
- 1.14 pounds of cocaine…
- 2.95 pounds of marijuana
- 1.16 pounds of heroin.
The total estimated value? $235,000.
“It was almost like a smorgasbord style dealer; he had a little bit of everything. A lot of that stuff was pretty potent, pretty dangerous, particularly the heroin,” said Parizek.
Parizek says the heroin is part of the continuing opioid epidemic and that on Thursday night first responders brought six people back from overdosing by using Narcan. Dale Woolery, Director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy says as bad as the opioid crisis is, it’s not alone as a problem in Iowa.
“Methamphetamine actually remains a much bigger issue if you’re measuring on volume of cases, the number of people who are involved, number of crimes being committed etc. But we also know with the opioid epidemic you can overdose rather easily,” said Woolery.
Woolery says the state has made progress on the opioid epidemic, and that the Department of Health’s preliminary numbers show Iowa had almost 70 fewer deaths in 2018 than in 2017. That being said, it’s too early to call it a trend. Police say what will help turn those numbers into a trend are busts like these.
“We don’t see that quantity of heroin very often, and when you look at that, that’s when you start thinking about this is probably one of the best uses of our resources because we are definitely saving lives getting that heroin off the street,” said Parizek.
Woolery says another way to lower the amount of drug related deaths is early intervention. He says the state is considering a plan that would take low risk offenders and place them into a case manager program to get treatment rather than being let go or put in jail. Meanwhile, Descolline is facing six felony charges and is being held on an $85,000 cash bond.
