Shelby’s Story
Heroin users sentenced to the Clark County Jail come from all walks of life. The cost to families is not only measured by the amount of money that is spent on the street drug, but also on the emotional toll the dependency on illegal drugs creates.
Last week our readers met Jessica, a 22 year old who was drawn into heroin use due to a devastating auto accident. This week we are introducing you to Shelby, a 28 year old woman who grew up mostly in a quiet little agricultural area of our county south east of Springfield.
Shelby’s attraction to heroin began as an emotional pain that she believes started with the loss of her mother in 2014 but appears to have been related to a short lifetime of emotional ups and downs in her young life.
Clark County Municipal Court records show that her journey to jail began back in January of this year when the man who raised her became the target of her need to finance the drug habit not only for herself, but also her new husband.
Shelby explained that she was born to parents who both had developed drug and alcohol problems at some point during her childhood. She was “raised” by a man who had been in a relationship with her mother starting when she was in the sixth grade. She recounted during our interview that she was safe and secure during the time she was growing up and that all of her needs were being met by her “dad”.
This young woman was very successful in high school participating in sports and going on to attend Urbana University where she completed a degree in Psychology and later completed a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration.
Despite her accomplishments in high school and college, Shelby was unable to successfully implement her career in criminal justice spending just a month as a corrections officer at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare for the Criminally Insane and later 7 months at the London Correctional facility where she met her soon to be husband, an inmate at the time of their meeting. Her explanation for her dismissal from the facility indicates that her emotional needs may have been the cause of her termination.
After years of estrangement from her biological parents, she was reunited with her mother who had been sober for nine years. According to her account, Shelby quickly became very close to her mother talking daily and interacting on a regular basis as any mother and daughter do. She grew to have an intense bond that was missing during her young life, having the ability to form a close relationship as an adult child. In 2014 that bond was broken much too soon when her mother passed away and the emotional toll of grieving not only the loss of her parent, but the loss of that emotional connection led Shelby to seek comfort for her pain in the form of chemicals.
Six months after her mother passed, Shelby also lost her biological father with whom she had made peace and became attached to but at a lesser level of emotional ties than with her mother.
It was in November of 2014 that Shelby elected to move to Clinton County to be with her then fiancé to be closer to his family including step children. The grieving process continued for her and she attempted to fill her life with a new family to which she quickly bonded.
Shelby described herself as being very nieve regarding her first experience with illegal drugs when she tried Crack for the first time with her fiancé. She quickly found a sense of emotional relief and began buying and using heroin in the Dayton area as her drug of choice.
As many who are addicted to heroin do, she turned to finding financial resources to support her habit by stealing from family to gain access to the drug. In Shelby’s case, she returned to the home of the man who had raised and supported her since she was around 11 or 12 years old. She openly admits to using her knowledge of her step father’s bank account to steal funds to support her habit.
Court records show that Shelby was investigated by Clark County Detectives for not only writing checks against the account, but cashing them in a small hometown market. Her husband was also able to cash some of the checks amounting to over $16,000 because everyone in a small town supports one another without question. Both were arrested and sentenced to the Clark County Jail by mid year. Shelby was charged with theft and forgery and also has some drug use charges that she will need to face in Clinton County upon her release.
She admits that it is her fault that she elected to use drugs and was arrested. Shelby noted that she, like Jessica had overdosed while using heroin and is lucky to be alive. She puts the number of near death experiences at four since she began using heroin about 8 months prior to her arrest.
When you meet Shelby, you experience a much less affected person than what you found in Jessica. She is more animated and self assured. She has a command of the criminal justice system that is lacking in Jessica. While Jessica seems almost unable to cope with her choices, you find Shelby to be rather on top of her situation and more self assured. Her first encounter with drugs was reported to be in July of 2014 and her criminal activity of theft and forgery began in January of 2015 lasting about 6 months before being caught.
Unlike Jessica who admits she cannot have too much time on her hands for fear she will slip back into drug use, Shelby states that she “doesn’t have an interest in drug use”. She notes that her depression from the death of her mother was also a result of the end of a nine year relationship with a man to whom she was engaged. Despite the fact that her husband is incarcerated and may be heading to prison, she admits that she plans to stay married to him. It is unclear how she will manage her rehabilitation upon release.
Shelby explained that her step-father does visit her at the Clark County Jail. He has offered for her to return to his home following her release from both Clark County and Clinton County. She believes that she will be able to rehabilitate and go on to be gainfully employed. Her goal is to take the required courses that she needs to become a Chemical Dependency Counselor. Shelby acknowledges that she has learned that heroin “makes you lose everything and it is not worth it”.
As Shelby waits for her sentencing on September 9th in Clark County, she stated that she spends most of her 23 hours of confinement per day reading, writing or watching television in her cell block located in the pods under the Sheriff’s Office building. Unlike Jessica she has not been given the title of “trustee” so she has no job to go to where she might enjoy a little more freedom to move about within the jail building.
The use of heroin to ease the physical pain that Jessica felt and the emotional pain felt by Shelby is critical for families and friends to understand. If you have a loved one who has experienced an accident or illness that has left them with chronic pain, open your mind to understanding and seek professional help for them. In the case of the emotional pain and depression felt by Shelby, you can seek professional counseling to help them talk about their experience and their emotions.
Not everyone is open to talking about their physical and emotional pain with loved ones. Cancer survivors often have been diagnosed with PTSD months or years after treatment has ended. Parents who lose a loved one in a tragic or unexpected manner can become clinically depressed. For any number of reasons where we may simply believe all they need is time, as in the case of both of these young women, time was their enemy. Jessica shared that she would not want others to keep the secret of illegal substance abuse and Shelby spoke of how it ruins your life because you lose everything.
If you know someone who may need psychological counseling, you can contact Mental Health Service for Clark and Madison Counties, Inc. They offer free, anonymous screenings, confidential screenings for alcohol, depression, bi-polar disorder, generalized anxiety and PTSD. McKinley Hall offers a number of services for chemical dependency in the county.
Part 1 - Keeping the Secret of Heroin Use Jessica's Story
Part 3 - Children; the Silent Victims of Heroin
UPDATE : June 22, 2016
A year ago I met two young women at the Clark County Jail that were incarcerated because of their addition to heroin. I introduced our readers to Shelby, a woman who had everything to live for including a college education with a degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration which normally leads one to a productive life. Today I received a call to let me know that despite the efforts by her “dad”, Shelby became a Clark County statistic when she passed away of a suspected drug overdose. Toxicology results are still pending, but indications are she succumbed to her demons.
In recalling our conversation, Shelby believed that her attraction to heroin began as an emotional pain when she lost her mother in 2014. Her need for drugs and the need of her then gentleman friend lead her to steal from the man who raised her and brought her into the court system for forgery.
Despite her history it appears that her goal to reunite with this man who was her father for all intents and purposes because she passed away in the home of her “dad”. She leaves behind a man who loved and cared for her. He joins hundreds of families who have discovered that for some, the call of the needle is just so overwhelming, their loved ones cannot resist.
I remember her words so vividly when she spoke about her drug use
“it ruins your life because you lose everything.”
Our deepest sympathy goes out to Shelby’s dad and his family. If you know someone who is using drugs and needs help, reach out to Mental Health Service for Clark and Madison Counties, Inc. They offer free anonymous screenings, confidential screenings for alcohol, depression, bi-polar disorder, generalized anxiety and PTSD. McKinley Hall offers a number of services for chemical dependency in the county.
