Salem Couple Sentenced to Prison for Selling Heroin

Heroin is a killer. Use has been increasing among men and women, most age groups, and all income levels.

(DALLAS, Ore.) - Today, Polk County District Attorney Aaron Felton announced the conviction and sentencing of Jeffrey Bledsoe and Adrienne Santrizos.

The Salem couple was sentenced to prison terms of over 10 years and 7 1/2 years, respectively, for their roles in selling large quantities of heroin as part of an undercover drug enforcement operation.

Heroin use has increased a lot in just the last decade. Some of the greatest increases of heroin addiction have occurred in demographic groups with historically low rates of heroin use: women, the privately insured, and people with higher incomes.

In particular, heroin use has more than doubled in the past decade among young adults aged 18 to 25 years.

That's a cash cow to a drug dealer.

According to data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths:

• Heroin-related overdose deaths have more than quadrupled since 2010.
• From 2014 to 2015, heroin overdose death rates increased by 20.6%, with nearly 13,000 people dying in 2015.
• In 2015, males aged 25-44 had the highest heroin death rate at 13.2 per 100,000, which was an increase of 22.2% from 2014.

Both Bledsoe and Santrizos had previously been convicted of delivering controlled substances.

48-year old Jeffrey Bledsoe was sentenced by Polk County Circuit Judge Sally Avera to serve 123 months in prison with 36 months post-prison supervision on convictions for charges of delivery of a substantial quantity of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school.

44-year old Adrienne Santrizos was sentenced by Judge Avera to 90 months in prison with 36 months post-prison supervision on convictions for charges of delivery of a substantial quantity of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance within 1000' of a school.

The investigation was conducted by the Polk Interagency Narcotics Team with support from the Salem Police Street Crimes and SWAT units.

Source: Polk County Dist. Att. Office