A Hobart resident was arrested Saturday on a charge of possession of a narcotic drug after Portage Police said that he was found to have heroin on his person while being treated for an overdose at Porter Portage Hospital Campus.

According to police, at 10:10 p.m. an officer was dispatched to the hospital at 3630 Willowcreek Road in response to a report of a disorderly patient who had been transported from Hobart after overdosing on heroin. On his arrival, police said, the officer made contact with William P. Pritchard, 42, who was refusing to let nursing staff go near his clothes. Pritchard finally relented, police said, and pulled a blue Rice Crispies cellophane wrapper from his sock containing a brown powder.

Pritchard identified the brown powder as heroin and then produced from his other sock three additional clear plastic baggies of a brown powder which Pritchard similarly identified as heroin.

Pritchard was medically cleared by the hospital and transported to Porter County Jail, police said. Possession of a narcotic drug is a Class D felony punishable by a term of six months to three years.

Posted 1/25/2010