Slippery Suspect In Jail After Hiding Heroin Beneath Cop Car

A deputy almost didn't realize that Philip Fenker had deposited syringes and heroin beneath his cruiser.

Philip J. Fenker. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Department.

(West Harrison, Ind.) – He is accused of attempting to fool officers by pitching his heroin beneath a cop car.

Philip J. Fenker nearly got away with the sly move.

A Dearborn County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a report of a drug transaction on South State Street in the area of Mill Street in West Harrison on February 5, according to a court affidavit. The deputy encountered Fenker, 44, who was wearing clothing matching the description given.

Fenker was searched, but nothing illegal was found on him. He was then released.

The deputy had gotten back into his vehicle and had only driven about a block away when he was alerted that two syringes were observed on the street where he had parked his cruiser. The deputy quickly returned and located the syringes along with a baggie containing a substance believed to be heroin.

The dash cam video from the police cruiser was reviewed. It allegedly showed Fenker making a throwing motion beneath the cruiser as the deputy first encountered him. The drugs later in the roadway were not seen in the section of the video where the deputy pulled up to Fenker.

Fenker, however, had already gotten away. The sheriff’s department charged him in February with Possession of a Narcotic Drug (level 6 felony) and Possession of a Syringe (level 6 felony).

Fenker was finally booked into jail at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center on June 11.

Philip Fenker had been arrested in Franklin County last December for Possession of Methamphetamine (level 6 felony) and Visiting a Common Nuisance (class B misdemeanor). He bonded out of jail in January as he awaits trial for that case.

He has multiple previous convictions, including Operating While Intoxicated in Franklin County in 1998, Battery in Ripley County in 2006, and Battery in Decatur County in 2007, according to the Indiana Department of Corrections.

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