On the morning of April 12th, 2025, Deputies with the Starke County Sheriff’s Department along with Officers with the Knox Police Department participated in a joint investigation involving the delivery of dangerous drugs into the Knox area.
Detectives obtained information about a vehicle traveling from the Chicago area to a location within the City of Knox that was allegedly delivering methamphetamine and fentanyl. The suspect vehicle was located coming back into Starke County on US 30. It was followed by detectives where it was ultimately stopped by officers with both agencies.
The vehicle was found to contain three occupants. They were identified as Ryan Smith, age 42 of Knox, Earl Beem, age 43 of Knox, and Susan Risner, age 29 of Knox. A Starke County Sheriff’s Department K-9 was deployed around the vehicle and alerted to the presence of narcotics. Several illicit drugs were located during the stop of the vehicle, to include approximately two ounces of suspected methamphetamine and over four grams of suspected fentanyl, in addition to other drug related paraphernalia.
All individuals were transported to the Starke County Justice Center and held on preliminary charges related to narcotics dealing.
A report was submitted to the Starke County Prosecutor’s Office where formal charges of Dealing Methamphetamine a level 2 felony, Possession of Methamphetamine a level 3 felony, Dealing a Narcotic Drug a level 4 felony, and Possession of a Narcotic Drug a level 6 felony were filed on all three individuals. They are currently being held at the Starke County Justice Center on $20,000 cash bond.
As a reminder, all subjects are innocent until proven guilty.