By Scott Miley and Rebecca R. Bibbs
The Herald Bulletin
PENDLETON — An inmate considered to have run one of Indiana’s major prison-based drug rings died Monday after a confrontation after which he was found with contraband at the Pendleton Correctional Facility.
Justin Addler, 32, of Crawfordsville, was among 40 people charged in 2012 with operating a drug ring that smuggled cellphones into the Pendleton, Westville and Wabash Valley prisons, which allowed inmates to buy and sell methamphetamine, heroin and LSD outside of the facilities.
Madison County Coroner Marian Dunnichay conducted the autopsy Tuesday on Addler but said she would not release a final ruling pending the outcome of a toxicology report in three to four weeks.
However, Dunnichay said she could find no medical reason for his death. Cuts and bruises on his body were consistent with events as prison officials reported them, she said.
“We did find two latex gloves in cellophane-wrapped bindles containing unknown contraband in his rectum,” she said. The gloves and their contents have been turned over to the Indiana State Police as evidence for testing.
On Monday, Addler barricaded himself in his cell at Pendleton with an unspecified weapon at 1:15 p.m., said Michelle Rains, public information officer for the Pendleton Correctional Facility.
“Because this is an ongoing investigation, we are not releasing the type of weapon offender Addler had in his possession,” Rains said in an email to The Herald Bulletin.
Officers from the prison’s Cell Extraction Team went to the scene, and Addler voluntarily submitted to being placed in mechanical wrist and leg restraints, Rains said. Addler was taken to the health care center for treatment of unspecified injuries. He then was moved to a hospital cell where staff members “later observed him in an unresponsive state,” the statement said.
Efforts to revive were undertaken and an ambulance was called to the facility.
Addler was taken to St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:17 p.m.
The entire facility was placed on restricted movement until the incident is resolved, Rains said.
Addler was serving 26 years for dealing in cocaine and six years for carrying a handgun without a license. The sentence, which came from Tippecanoe County, had a prison release date of April 2026.
In a federal case, he was sentenced to 420 months in prison. The sentence was to run concurrently with his Tippecanoe County case.
In 2012, Addler, known as “Big J,” was among 40 people charged in a drug ring and smuggling scheme that operated out of state prisons.
According to documents in U.S. District Court for Southern Indiana, Addler and Oscar Perez used cellphones to oversee the selling of methamphetamine through a source in California. The meth was then shipped to Indiana
The conspiracy, prosecutors said, also involved a corrections officer who smuggled in controlled suyan and phones to inmates.
Addler would call people in his network and direct them to make illegal drug sales, documents said.
In one 2012 instance, three couriers in the network were traveling to Chicago on Interstate 65 with $6,000 of Addler’s money. The car occupants realized they were being tracked by police and threw the money out the window.
The couriers had a phone conversation with Addler in which they said they would go back to find the money. They found the money and also promised to give Addler a quantity of heroin as well.
In May 2014, the federal court authorized the marriage between Addler and a co-defendant, Janice Springer.
In the court documents, Addler had directed Springer to take heroin and meth to customers in Lafayette. She also made deals in Crawfordsville and New Castle, the documents said.
The only corrections officer named in the federal warrant worked at Wabash Valley where Addler was serving time during the drug transactions. The officer, Jon Dobbins, received a 71-month prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Copyright 2016 The Herald Bulletin