INDIANAPOLIS — An accused drug dealer in Indianapolis is charged with dealing resulting in death after a fatal overdose on the city’s east side.
Court records show the death stemmed from a drug deal of just $35. Just after 6 a.m. on an early April day at a duplex on East New York Street, a man named Robert Bates died from a fentanyl overdose.
Four hours earlier, prosecutors allege that Bates sent a text message arranging to buy heroin with a suspected drug dealer.
“Mr. Bates I think believed he was getting heroin and it was obviously laced with fentanyl and it’s scary when you think how quickly your life can be taken,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mike Gannon.
Prosecutors claim 26-year-old Jalen Minion provided that lethal dose.
According to court records, the suspect was on GPS monitoring for a prior federal case, and that GPS technology matched with phone data to link Minion to the deadly drug deal.
“Here you had a man on federal probation on an ankle monitor and he’s out doing drug transactions and it’s horrible for the Bates family,” said Gannon.
Compared to heroin, just a tiny amount of fentanyl can be lethal.
That’s why over the last few years hundreds of people have died from fentanyl-related overdoses in Marion County.
Gannon warned anyone dealing fentanyl that law enforcement will continue to crack down on the crime to try and save lives.
“Our job is to go out each and every day and identify people that are terrorizing our community with these poisonous drugs and build a case to hold them accountable,” said Gannon. “When you’re doing that and destroying families you do need to be held accountable at the end of the day.”
Although the suspect is already in federal custody for a probation violation, he does have an active warrant in Marion County with an $800,000 bond for the new case.
