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Chief Deputy
Whittaker to speak at PERI meeting
Mark Whittaker, Chief Deputy with the Darke County Sheriff's
Department, will take the floor on Monday, April 3, at the VFW on Ohio
St. when he speaks at the Public Employee Retirees, (PERI)
luncheon. Not only will he provide information about
drugs, scams, and the crimes they produce, but he will also tell how to
prevent these crimes and how to handle a situation should a person
become a victim of them. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. and is
open to non members, who are OPERS retirees, by calling Vivian Nieport,
Attendance and Contact Chairman, at 937-548-3961 no later than
Wednesday, March 29. PERI members will be contacted
by the calling committee.
Darke County is one of the leading agricultural counties in the State
of Ohio. Mostly rural, with Greenville as its largest city and
county seat, it is difficult to imagine that within its borders drug
addiction has opened the door to house invasions, robberies, and
attacks on innocent citizens out for dinner or shopping for
groceries. Yet, according to Whittaker, "Drug abuse in the county
is not only significant but is overwhelming." He added, "A large
portion of the crimes in Darke County are committed by drug addicts,
who are desperately seeking money to feed their habits. Compounding the
problem he said, "Many of the dealers who sell the drugs are in most
cases addicts themselves."
As if this is not enough, he said, Darke County residents are
being barraged by telephone scams that can range from requests to
donate to a national Sheriff's organization, which he particularly
finds offensive, to some other questionable organization. They
can also promise big winnings, luxury trips and other schemes that can
add up to major losses for the donors and millions of dollars in
illegal gains for the scammers as they continue to come up with even
more schemes to steal money as well as personal information. He will
describe some of these schemes.
Whittaker has been a resident of Darke County for over 30 years
including his 21 years with the Sheriff's Office where he has served on
road patrol, and as a detective and detective supervisor before
his present position as Chief Deputy. He is also currently
serving on the Coalition for a Healthy Darke County, which has formed
to increase awareness of heroin addiction and what's been happening in
the county as the number of users and addicts continue to rise.
Looking forward to speaking at PERI, he said he will be available to
answer any and all questions and welcomes attendees to join him for an
opportunity to interact with local law enforcement and to find out
exactly what is happening locally.
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