HILLIARD, Ohio (AP) — Clay Kilpatrick was 18 when heentered a bank, used a fake gun to order
cooperation or death, thenwalked out $4,900 richer and his young life in ruins.The heroin addict deep in
debt committed the robbery two days before his sister’s high school graduation in May 2011.The FBI dubbed
him the "Dirty Bieber Bandit" because a witness said he looked like Justin Bieber, "only
dirty."Kilpatrick,now 21, was released from prison Dec. 13 after serving less than twoyears of a
four-year sentence. A Franklin County judge approved hisearly release with the support of prosecutors.
Kilpatrick is clean, onprobation and plans to leave the world of drugs behind. He’s got a jobarranged by his
father cleaning up fire-damaged homes for insurancecompanies.Kilpatrick went free as the state battles the
drug thathelped put him behind bars. Attorney General Mike DeWine calls heroinabuse an epidemic killing at
least 11 Ohioans a week. U.S. AttorneySteven Dettelbach in Cleveland labels it a public health crisis.
TheDrug Enforcement Administration says heroin availability is on the risenationally and overdoses are
increasing.Kilpatrick grew up in acomfortable home in the Columbus suburb of Hilliard, whose per
capitaincome of $34,000 is well above the state average. The city doesn’t seemuch violent crime, but
"quality of life" offenses like theft often havetheir roots in addicts supporting habits, which
increasingly appear toinvolve heroin, said Robert Fisher, the deputy police chief.Kilpatricksmoked marijuana
in his early teens but swore to never try heroin. Yetfriends persuaded him to smoke what they called
"opium" off aluminumfoil — in fact, it was heroin — and he was hooked.Kilpatrickrobbed his family
of electronics, cash, credit cards and checks to feedhis habit. He stole money from friends who cashed
checks for him he knewwould bounce. He left dealers in the lurch. He borrowed from paydaylending companies.
Soon, he was $1,500 in debt with no end in sight. Hehatched the bank robbery as a spur-of-the-moment
crime."I wasjust out of control, doing whatever," Kilpatrick said. "I didn’t carewho I was
hurting, who knew what I was, who knew I was a thief. I had todo whatever I had to do, as long as I
maintained that high."Kilpatrickwas a lousy bank robber, a fact that probably saved his life
byforestalling a fatal overdose. Police fingered him quickly based ontips, including Kilpatrick’s boast on
Facebook about the robbery.Outon bond after his indictment and arrest, Kilpatrick continued to getinto
trouble and kept using. On Nov. 12, 2011, he walked into theHilliard police station to turn himself in for
good, a heroin syringe inhis waistband. He says rehab wasn’t working, and he knew he had to gosomewhere he
couldn’t get drugs and they wouldn’t let him leave.That place was Belmont Correctional Institution in
eastern Ohio.Kilpatrick’sparents, who are divorced, place responsibility on their son but alsosearch their
hearts for something they could have done differently."Whatdid I miss, how did I not know this, how
does a mom not know that thisis going on," said his mother, Marcia Skelly, a nurse in apediatrician’s
office."I had no clue what was going on in thehouse when I would go to bed," said his father,
Wayne Kilpatrick, abuilding supplies salesman.Kilpatrick’s chances for recovery restwith his willingness to
take responsibility, starting with an admissionof his problem and willingness to fix it, said Paul Coleman,
presidentof Maryhaven, the region’s oldest addiction counseling service. Thatincludes attending 12-step
programs for drug addicts and avoiding thepeople, places and things that got him in trouble to begin
with.Kilpatricksays he plans to attend such programs with friends who are clean. Hepledges a new start and
warns anyone who will listen not to go nearheroin."People just need to know how serious it is,"
Kilpatricksaid. "I’m sure these kids start doing it not knowing how bad it reallyis, thinking they can
just try it once and get a quick high, but it’snot like that. Not with this drug."___Andrew
Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.
