Evansville police arrested Vanessa Haskins, Charico Carter, and Louis Schablik after investigators tied an alleged fentanyl operation to a home in the 2000 block of Herbert Avenue. All three were booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail on drug-related charges.
The case also carries a neighborhood angle, since police said the address had drawn tips since 2022. Neighbors reported constant traffic, people coming and going, and cars parking outside their homes at all hours, a pattern that made the complaints harder to ignore.
According to the affidavit, officers had received multiple tips about suspected drug activity in the 2000 block of Herbert Avenue since 2022. The reports described constant traffic at the residence, which gave detectives a pattern to examine rather than one isolated complaint.
Neighbors also complained about cars parking in front of their homes and steady foot traffic at all hours of the day. That kind of detail matters because it shows how suspected drug activity can become a daily problem for nearby families.
During the investigation, police performed a traffic stop that linked a fentanyl user directly to the Herbert Avenue address. That connection helped detectives secure a search warrant, turning neighborhood complaints and officer work into the legal step needed to search the home.
On May 20, officers detained Charico Carter and Vanessa Haskins after they left the Herbert Avenue home. Police said both were taken into custody near Sunburst and Riverside Drive, a local detail that helps place the arrest outside the house itself.
Officials said they found 18 grams of packaged fentanyl in Haskins’ jacket after the detention. Haskins told police the jacket was not hers, but the reported packaging detail still became a key part of the dealing allegation against her inside the case.
Carter told police she had moved into the Herbert Avenue home and had been staying with Louis Schablik since 2020. She also said that, when Schablik was asleep, she would sometimes sell fentanyl for him, giving detectives a direct statement about alleged sales.
Schablik was taken into custody and later told detectives he had been selling illegal narcotics from the Herbert Avenue home for several months. He also said there was a handgun inside the residence that he had touched and unloaded, according to police.
That firearm detail matters because Schablik is classified as a sexually violent predator and must register annually for life. Police also described him as a Serious Violent Felon, a status that bars him from possessing firearms under the charge listed.
Haskins faces one count of dealing cocaine or narcotic drugs, while Carter faces two counts of the same charge. Schablik faces dealing, possession of a firearm by a Serious Violent Felon, and maintaining a common nuisance involving controlled substances.
Debate around fentanyl enforcement often comes down to how long neighbors should have to live with suspected dealing before police can act. In Evansville, tips dating back to 2022 made the Herbert Avenue case feel less sudden and more like a slow build.
What comes next will depend on how prosecutors use the 18 grams of packaged fentanyl, Carter’s statements, Schablik’s alleged admission, and the handgun evidence. For Haskins, Carter, and Schablik, the case now moves from neighborhood complaints to court proof in Vanderburgh County.