Ronan man charged with providing drugs and alcohol to teenage girls
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POLSON – A 56-year-old Ronan man has been charged with providing teenage girls with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes during their school lunch breaks. Leonard James Irvine pleaded not guilty to three counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs on or near school property.
According to the affidavit on file at Lake County District Court, during December 2010, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Jay Gillhouse, a School Resource Officer assigned to Ronan School District, was contacted by the parents of a 16-year-old Ronan High School girl regarding alcohol the girl possessed.
The girl alleged she had purchased a pint of Black Velvet whiskey from Irvine and that she and her younger sister, who is 15 years old, had smoked cigarettes at Irvine’s residence in Gardner Apartments. The apartments, on Main Street, Ronan, are only 333 feet from school property.
According to the affidavit, Ronan High School Principal Tom Stack told Gillhouse that he’d received numerous complaints from parents that their children were going to the defendant’s residence during lunch break. Gillhouse continued his investigation by monitoring the residence. He observed five different girls leaving school grounds during their lunch break to visit the defendant’s home.
Tribal Police Officer Casey Couture advised Gillhouse that he’d received a report from a parent of another 16-year-old girl, alleging that Irvine had taken nude photographs of her in exchange for marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes and prescription drugs.
A search warrant was executed at Irvine’s residence March 4. During the search, officers allegedly found numerous pairs of female panties in Irvine’s bedroom, including one pair that appeared to be the size of a young girl.
Officers also found three pouches of hypodermic needles, eight spoons covered with white residue and a light bulb that had allegedly been converted into a pipe. According to the affidavit, Gillhouse’s training and experience led him to believe the bulb was used to smoke methamphetamine. Numerous other drugs and paraphernalia, including prescriptions drugs, were listed in the affidavit as being discovered in the search.
According to the affidavit, the 15-year-old told Lake County Sheriff Deputy Ben Woods that Irvine had provided her with drugs on four or five occasions. She also stated she believed that Irvine was probably providing drugs and alcohol in hopes of receiving sexual favors from the girls.
Another 14-year-old girl told Woods that Irvine had provided her with drugs approximately 20 times, and that she is addicted to Clonapin.
A fourth girl who was interviewed, 15 years old, told officers that she’d smoked cigarettes at Irvine’s apartment and snorted Vicodin and Lortabs provided by Irvine on four occasions.
According to the affidavit, Irvine allegedly admitted to having prescriptions for numerous drugs and narcotics and that he was addicted to methamphetamine. He also admitted that he allowed teenagers to snort crushed Lortabs in his presence, knowing that the girls were under the age of 18.
When asked about sexual favors, Irvine allegedly said, “I told ‘em if you want the pills, all you gotta do is ask. I got ‘em.”
According to Shelly Cordis of Ronan Power Products, the business located across the alley behind the apartments, the apartments have become a thorn in their side.
Cordis says tenants of the Gardner Apartments have been giving their business trouble for years. She’s concerned for the safety of seemingly unattended children in the alley through which the business receives regular deliveries and also concerned about theft.
“Our security pad is worn out from people trying to break in,” she said. “We have kids playing in our pen behind the building all the time with customers around and semis coming through all the time. It’s dangerous for the kids.”
Apartment owner Dennis Gardner says that he doesn’t tolerate drugs in his apartment complex, and gives tenants the boot if he finds suspicious activity going on.
“Every once in a while we hear about something going on, but not very often,” Gardner said. “We haven’t had too much trouble lately, just a few kids.”
Gardner explained that he has implemented policies to make his apartments a better place to live. According to Gardner, all visitors must be gone by 10 p.m., and no visitors are to be in the apartments unless the tenants are present.
Gardner admits that he doesn’t do a lot of background checks on tenants moving in.
“If (tenants) are up to no good, I give them a warning letter,” he said. “If it happens again, we evict them.”
District Judge C.B. McNeil set Irvine’s bond at $500,000, with the trial date set for Aug. 15.
