MPPD makes biggest drug bust from traffic stop in department history
Kristy Posthumus.
In what police are calling the biggest drug bust from a traffic stop in the history of the department, Mount Pleasant Police Department officers arrested two Mount Pleasant women attempting to transport 13 bindles of heroin and 12 bindles of another unidentified drug.
Officers stopped the women in their black Dodge Charger for having illegally tinted windows and an improperly placed license plate. Officers identified the driver as Kristy Posthumus, 33, a federally-recognized Native American in the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Posthumus’ license was suspended and her vehicle was uninsured. Driving on a suspended license is a misdemeanor offense which requires officers to make an arrest.
Officers conducted a search of the vehicle and found close to a gram of heroin and three quarters of a gram of an unknown white substance hidden in a Mentos container. Each bindle is one sixteenth of a gram. This discovery allowed officers to search the passenger, Audrey Shipman, a 31-year-old female.
Shipman was in possession of two knives, mace and a large collapsible baton, which she said she was carrying for protection.
Posthumus was arrested on three counts of possession with intent to deliver heroin, driving with a suspended license, and operating a vehicle without insurance. As a federally recognized Native American, Posthumus was arraigned in Tribal Court and will move through the Tribal Court system.
Under Tribal law, narcotics violations fall under Title 1.2036 Controlled Substances, Narcotics. She faces one year of incarceration and a fine of $5,000.
MPPD has also referred Posthumus’ case to a federal prosecutor, who will decide whether to file charges against her in Federal Court. A Native American can be tried for the same offense in Tribal and Federal Court, but it is uncommon.
Shipman was arrested on three counts of carrying a concealed weapon, and one count of possession of a dangerous weapon. Shipman, also a Native American, is not federally recognized, and will therefore move through the Isabella County Court.
Carrying a concealed weapon is a felony that carries a sentence of five years in prison and a $2,500 fine. Possession of a dangerous weapon is a felony with a sentence that varies based on the weapon and intent.
Shipman has been arrested several times before, most recently in 2012 for driving while license suspended, possession of narcotics, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property, second degree retail fraud and disturbing the peace.
Officers impounded Posthumus’ vehicle and delivered the 12 bindles of an unidentified white substance to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab in Grayling. Troopers have ruled out cocaine and heroin as the possible substance. The unidentified white powder might be finely ground opiate pills, which is common among heroin users.
Browne said Posthumus will face an additional charge once the other substance is identified.
Lt. Mark Uribe of the Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team said Isabella County is facing an increase in heroin use among teens and adults ranging from ages 17 to 30.
Uribe has been with the Michigan State Police for over 26 years, and has been in the narcotics division for 13 years.
“When heroin moves in, so does a lot of other crime,” Uribe said. “You see an increase in breaking and entering, larcenies and other crimes. People need to fuel their drug addiction, and it gets expensive.”
Heroin is known as a “dirty opiate” because it can be mixed with other substances, Uribe said. Dealers mix in other substances which look like heroin, such as rat poison, in order to charge more based on the weight.
Uribe attributes the increase in heroin usage to the spike in prescribing of opiate pain killers by doctors, the price of heroin and the spread of gateway drugs.
“A lot of people start off using opiates such as Vicodin or Oxycotin,” Uribe said. “When they get addicted, they go to a dirty opiate which is cheaper to buy.”
The street price for heroin in Mount Pleasant is about $30 a bindle. Uribe said. An addict might use heroin 3 to 4 times a day. The amount an addict uses depends on their individual tolerance and the potency of the heroin they are using.
Browne said the reason heroin leads to so many overdoses is that it is nearly impossible for a user to determine the purity of the drug.
“It’s like drinking alcohol that you don’t know the proof of,” Browne said. “You have no way to know how powerful it is, which is why so many people overdose and die.”
