Jury indicts 37 on charges of dealing drugs in 4 states \nEVANSVILLE -- A federal grand jury has indicted 37 alleged drug dealers from four states in what authorities have dubbed "Operation Hard Rock."\nThe indictments and subsequent arrests cut off a major supply of cocaine, marijuana and heroin into southern Indiana from Chicago and Nashville, Tenn., Armand McClintock, the top Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Indiana, said during a news conference Friday.\n"Now, they're playing the 'Jailhouse Rock,' so we're happy with that," McClintock said.\nThe indictments unsealed Friday target three interconnected drug rings operating in Evansville, Princeton and western Kentucky, said Susan Brooks, the U.S. attorney for Southern Indiana.\nTogether, the drug rings moved, in street values, more than $30 million in cocaine, $1 million in marijuana and $350,000 to $500,000 in heroin, Brooks said.\nThose indicted are from Evansville, Princeton, Chicago, Greenville, Ky., and Murfreesboro, Tenn.\n"We believe that the Evansville community and the surrounding counties, Gibson and Vanderburgh County, are safer today, and we have disrupted a significant drug trafficking organization, taking lots of drugs off the streets in these two counties," Brooks said.\nThe grand jury, meeting in Indianapolis, returned the indictments Wednesday. They resulted from an investigation initiated by a tip to Vanderburgh County authorities.\nBrooks said that while the spread of methamphetamine into southern Indiana in recent years has received much attention, cocaine remained a problem. Heroin use has grown after years of little activity, she said.\n"We hope that by taking out this trafficking organization, it will stem the flow of heroin into this area and there will not be future heroin addicts in your communities," Brooks said.\nMore than 150 officers executed 37 arrest warrants and 17 search warrants.\nTwenty-four of the 37 indicted were arrested, and authorities were looking for those who remained at large. Each faces maximum sentences of life in prison if convicted, Brooks said.
Former Democratic chair surrenders law license\nMUNSTER, Ind. -- Former Indiana Democratic Chairman Peter J. Manous, who is awaiting sentencing for defrauding a union pension fund, has agreed to surrender his law license for five years.\nBy surrendering his license, Manous avoided the risk of permanent disbarment because the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed disciplinary proceedings against him.\n"If faced with a probability of disbarment, it is not an irrational thing to do to resign," Donald Lundberg, executive director for the Indiana Disciplinary Commission, told The Times of Munster.\nA message seeking comment was left Friday at Manous' law office.\nManous pleaded guilty in April to eight federal charges, including conspiracy, lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice. He admitted taking a payoff to help persuade a union he was representing to invest $10 million from its pension fund in a land deal.\nManous faces a maximum of five years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 3 in South Bend, although he likely will serve less. U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. on Wednesday postponed Manous' sentencing from Sept. 23 to give Manous more time to help prosecutors in their public corruption investigations.
Candidate proposes banning child molesters from parks\nLAFAYETTE -- The city is awaiting a court decision on its attempt to ban a convicted child molester from city parks, and a political candidate is proposing to take the restriction even further.\nConnie Basham, Republican candidate for the district covering the city in the Indiana House of Representatives, said if she's elected, she will introduce legislation to make it illegal for convicted child molesters to frequent any public parks in the state.\n"I am sensitive to the protection of civil liberties for all law-abiding citizens, but when the higher courts tell us we can't even prevent some convicted child molester from going to our parks, I think something has to be done," she told the Journal and Courier for a Friday story.\nThe city's parks department had permanently banned a twice-convicted child molester after it received an anonymous tip he had visited a local park and fantasized about having sexual contact with children playing there.\nThe 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled the city's ban unconstitutionally punished the man for his thoughts. It has agreed to reconsider.\nThe man, identified in court documents only as "John Doe," was not accused of committing a crime then. However, he has previous convictions for child molestation and voyeurism.\nCity officials argued the man's record justified a lifetime exclusion from park property.\n"With the recidivism rate astronomically high for sex offenders, I prefer to embrace the better-safe-than-sorry approach," said Basham, a Tippecanoe County councilwoman seeking to replace Republican Sue Scholer, who chose not to run again.\nJoe Micon, the Democratic candidate for the seat, said, "The types of things I'd focus on include providing education and services to parents and families to prevent child abuse, better education and training for child case workers and also making sure any child in need has access to court-appointed supervisors"
