WESTFIELD, Ind. — An Indianapolis man has been charged in the death of a Westfield man who died of a fentanyl overdose in July.
Benjamine G. Ingram, age 30, was charged with dealing in a narcotic drug resulting in death. Ingram is accused of selling 23-year-old Jacob Lampe the drugs that later killed him.
Shortly before 6 p.m. on July 13, police were called to Lampe’s mother’s home in the 17000 block of Puntledge Drive in Westfield on a report of an overdose.
According to court documents, officers arrived to find Lampe on the floor in a room. Despite efforts to save his life, Lampe was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said inside the room they found a cut plastic straw commonly referred to as a “tooter,” numerous containers of marijuana, smoking paraphernalia and partially empty bottles of liquor.
An autopsy was performed on Lampe, and his blood was tested. His cause of death was ruled “fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, morphine, and flubromazolam toxicity,” per court records.
On August 11, police seized Lampe’s cellphone and met with his father. Lampe’s father told police that his son had dealt with addiction problems and had been to rehab on previous occasions. He explained that because of his son’s addiction issues, they tried to keep a close on him “as best parents in their situation could,” court documents state. The father also informed police that he monitored Lampe’s financial transactions and found a $50 Cash App transaction suspicious because his son did not make many transactions using the Cash App.
Court documents show that the next day, police examined the contents of Lampe’s phone and found he was chatting with a contact listed as “Ben.” In one message, “Ben” told Lampe that his CashApp identification is “$Bennylapdance1.” Police said they determined through open source research that the phone number for “Ben” is connected to the “$Bennylapdance1” Cash App profile and that it registers a user display name of “Ben Ingram.”
An affidavit logs the chat between Ingram and Lampe from July 6 to July 13 (“AF” indicates that the transcription is from an audio file sent from the designated subject):
WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Police said the messages indicate that Ingram was acting as a source of supply for Lampe for various controlled substances.
Court documents state that in a message at 11:04 a.m. on July 13, Ingram told Lampe that Lampe could leave to meet him. At 11:11 a.m., Lampe and his father had a phone conversation for about two minutes and then engaged in a text message conversation between 11:14 and 11:20.
At 11:21 a.m., Lampe accessed his Apple Maps application, which identified the latitude/longitude of his father’s address, per documents. A few seconds later, Apple Maps registered an address in the 6800 block of East 48th Street in Indianapolis, indicating it was the destination to which the application was to map the route of travel. Police noted that Ingram is listed at this address.
At 11:46 a.m., Lampe texted Ingram, “Here.” Apple Maps lists the route from Lambe’s location to Ingram’s address as taking about 26 minutes, court documents say. A location entry for the Puntledge Drive address in Westfield was placed at 12:23 p.m.
Court records show that police interviewed the boyfriend of Lampe’s mother, who told them he was working from the Puntledge Drive home on July 13, the day of Lampe’s death. He explained that he sent messages to Lampe’s mother at the approximate times when Lampe left and returned home. He advised that Lampe left the residence at about 11:06 a.m. and returned at about 12:52 p.m. The boyfriend told police that Lambe did not leave his room after he returned.
Police added that data shows Lampe’s phone and Ingram’s phone were in the same area at about 11:53 a.m. on July 13.
Ingram was arrested on Sunday, and if convicted, could serve up to 40 years in prison.
