Police Chief Hollis Alexander said the aim of the program is to collect powerful drugs that are beneficial to patients, but can also fall into the wrong hands if left to accumulate in homes. People will be able to turn in pills, powders and other solid medicines anonymously and without fear of prosecution.  The department will then safely destroy the medications by incinerating them.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway recently cited an Office of National Drug Control Policy report that said the non-medical use or abuse of prescription drugs is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States.  In Kentucky, prescription drug overdose deaths have more than doubled from 403 in 2000 to nearly 980 in 2009. Today, there are more overdose deaths in the Commonwealth than traffic fatalities, Conway said.

Some prescription painkillers – which produce highs similar to heroin use – are among the most popularly abused substances. Cadiz Police have investigated numerous cases where the drugs were stolen from homes and pharmacies.  Such drugs in household medicine cabinets can also be lure for children and teens who either use the medication or sell them.

Also of concern is the commonly held belief that it’s acceptable to flush old medicines down the toilet. Officials discourage that practice – unless medications specifically indicate that they can be flushed – because of the public health implications of drugs entering the ecosystem.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for one month. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high.  More Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, and inhalants combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Studies show that the majority of teens who abuse prescription drugs obtain them from family and friends for free, including from the home medicine cabinet. Many Americans simply do not know how to properly dispose of their unused or expired medicine, often flushing it down the toilet or throwing it away. These methods can pose both safety and environmental hazards.

There will be a disposal unit available at the Cadiz Police Department, 11 Marion Street, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Participants may dispose of medication in its original container or by removing the medication from its container and disposing of it directly into the disposal box.

All solid dosage pharmaceutical product and liquids in consumer containers may be accepted. Liquid products, such as cough syrup, should remain sealed in their original container. The depositor should ensure that the cap is tightly sealed to prevent leakage.

Intra-venous solutions, injectable, and syringes will not be accepted due to potential hazard posed by blood-borne pathogens.

Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative and should not be placed in collection containers.

“This program is unique because the police will not ask for any identification, and it’s free.  People can come into the police department and simply drop their medication into a secure box,” said Chief Alexander.

The National Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 28, however, the Cadiz Police Department will be participating immediately.

Joshua Paul Stacy, 21, of Cadiz turned himself into Cadiz Police this afternoon at 1615 hours.  He was served three Trigg County District Court arrest warrants by Officer Mathew Dolezal on charges of Robbery – First Degree; Assault – 2^nd Degree; and Terroristic Threatening.  Stacy was lodged in the Christian County Jail.

On 02/17/2012, Cadiz Police were called to investigate a robbery and assault of a juvenile.  The 13-year-old male victim stated that T.C. Byers, 18 of Gracey, and Stacy assaulted him around 8:40 p.m. and took money from him in the parking lot of the East Cadiz Baptist Church, 407 Third Street.  The victim suffered a broken nose and minor abrasions in the attack.  He was treated for his injuries at Trigg County Hospital.

Byers was arrested several hours later and charged with Robbery – First Degree; Assault – 2^nd Degree; and Tampering with Physical Evidence. 

Cadiz Police stayed in contact with Stacy’s family to find out where he was and urge him to turn himself in.  At one point during the investigation, a family member contacted Stacy over the phone.  A police officer could hear Stacy yell over the phone that he would kill any officer that tried to arrest him while proclaiming his innocence. 

Cadiz Police are continuing their investigation.

The phone number that appeared on her caller ID was 1-876-289-3586.

This is another in a long line of Jamaican scams that target the elderly.  They sometimes disguise their numbers to make it look like they are calling from somewhere in the United States.  Other times, the 876 area code appears. 

The Cadiz Police Department urges citizens to never wire money overseas in order to collect a larger prize.  Foreign lotteries in the United States are illegal.  And of course, never give out your personal information over the telephone to someone you don’t know.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates U.S. citizens were bilked of over $300 million in lottery scams that originated from Caribbean nations, including Jamaica.

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Victims receive a letter from WVAS Merchandise Basics telling them they have been selected to be a Consumer Service Evaluator (secret shopper) at selected retail outlets.  The victim is sent a check or money order for around $2,000 and instructed to deposit it into their personal bank account to cover the costs of purchasing merchandise through the program.  Once the money is deposited, the victim is told to send them around $1,500 back through a Western Union money order.

The bank notified the victim that the check was counterfeit, but not before they had wired the $1,500.  In addition, the victim made a $57 purchase as part of the secret shopper program as instructed and was responsible for that purchase also.

In this local case, the company letterhead included phone numbers with a 502 area code, however, the postmark on the letter was from Spain.

The phone numbers usually ring to an answering machine and are rarely, if ever, answered personally.

The Cadiz Police Department reminds citizens to check the postmark of all mail, and if it asks for money to be sent back to them, to report it to the police.  Persons can call the Cadiz Police Department at (270) 522-8369 if they want to verify the validity of any mail offer that involves receiving or sending money.

The email IS NOT from the IRS, and the claim that recipients are subject to a tax penalty is untrue. The message is a phishing scam designed to trick recipients into divulging personal and financial information to cybercriminals via a fake IRS website.

The email tells recipients they have been given a penalty for failing to submit a tax return by a “deadline” specified as January 31, 2012.  Recipients are warned that they could face a monetary penalty of $10,000 for the supposed late submission.

Recipients are also advised that may receive an exemption from the penalty by proving that their late submission was based on “ample grounds”. The message includes a link that people can follow to “find more information” about applying for the exemption.

The message is not from the IRS, and the claim that recipients are subject to a penalty for late submissions is a lie designed to trick them into clicking the included link.

Those who click the link will be taken to a bogus website designed to resemble a genuine IRS webpage. The bogus page will ask them to provide detailed personal and financial information as a means of proving their case and thereby receiving an exemption. All information supplied on the bogus website will be sent to criminals and may subsequently be used to commit financial fraud and identity theft.

The IRS has published information about such phishing scams on its website and notes:

• The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email or any social media tools to request personal or financial information
• Criminals have repeatedly used scam emails that falsely claim to be from the IRS as a means of tricking people into divulging their private information.
• Similar scams have also targeted taxpayers in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK, South Africa and India.

Be very cautious of clicking links or opening attachments in any email that claims to be from the IRS or Kentucky State Treasury.  Email scammers regularly use tricks like these to gain new victims.

The grandparent scam is possibly the most widespread senior scam, where the victim receives a call supposedly from a grandchild in trouble abroad and needing money urgently.

In most cases, the excuse is that the cash is needed to post bail and it has to be a money wire payment.  This is a dead giveaway for a scam.

In some cases, victims were told their grandchild had been kidnapped and that they had to pay a ransom.

In other cases, the scammers knew something about the grandchild and used an accomplice to impersonate their voice.

There have also been documented cases where they earlier phoned the genuine grandchild, pretending to be from a cell phone company, telling them to switch off their phone for a maintenance project, thus preventing the grandparent from checking the story.

The Cadiz Police Department urges people to never send money before confirming the whereabouts of the grandchild and to report any calls received like this to the police.

In the case Friday, the resident did not give out any information and contacted the Cadiz Police.

For more information, check out the SCAMS  page on this website.

They will usually knock on your door with a story or a deal – the roofer who can spot some missing shingles on your roof, the paver with some leftover asphalt who can give you a great deal on driveway resealing, etc. 

These type of contractors constantly move around, trying to stay one step ahead of the police and the angry customers they leave behind.

The worst are those who move in after a natural disaster, taking advantage of desperate homeowners who need immediate help and may not be as suspicious as they would be under normal circumstances.

Legitimate contractors will not solicit door to door.  If you are approached by someone offering to do work on your home, ask them for local references.  If you continue to be suspicious, call the Cadiz Police Department.

There is one important thing to keep in mind:

FOREIGN LOTTERIES ARE ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES

These scams will tell you that you’ve won a whole lot of money, and in order to claim it you have to send in a smaller amount of money.  They will also tell you to keep it confidential until they’re ready to announce your big winnings.

These kinds of scams often use celebrities or other famous names to make their offer seem more genuine. If you aren’t sure, don’t click on the link but instead go directly to the homepage of the company mentioned. If they are really giving away $1 million, there will be some kind of announcement on their website. But don’t waste too much time looking.

One scam offers a Facebook “dislike button.” This did not exist, but if you clicked on it, they took control of your Facebook accounts.

Another scam targeted users for a fake Apple iPad test in order to “phish” their personal data.

Another popular Facebook scam was a fake contact from Facebook security about a change in password, with an attached zip file that down loaded a Trojan horse. The way to avoid these is to never trust anything you get in e-mail unless you check it directly with the company first, and NEVER download an executable file (ending in .exe).

Also, you may have been sent a link to a video from a Facebook friend.  These viral videos claim to show everything from grisly footage of Osama bin Laden’s death to the latest celebrity hijinks.  When you click on the link, you are prompted to “upgrade your Flash player,” but the file you end up downloading contains a worm that logs into your social media account, sends similar messages to your friends, and searches for your personal data.

It’s best to avoid clicking on videos sent to you by friends on Facebook.