Fort Smith pair charged with opioid manufacturing – News – Booneville Democrat

The Fort Smith man and woman who allegedly possessed a pill press prior to their arrest Wednesday were formally handed multiple felony narcotics charges Friday.

Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue on Friday charged Devon Carl Dodd and Muriah Lee Wilson with felony manufacture of fewer than 2 grams of oxycodone, delivery of fewer than 2 grams of amphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia to pack or repack and maintaining a premises for drug activity. They allegedly used the pill press to make replica opioid painkillers and used the home for drug sales, the probable cause affidavit states.

Dodd and Wilson were arrested Wednesday morning after the Fort Smith police SWAT team and members of the 12th and 21st District Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration executed a warrant on their home in the 900 block of North 35th Street. Authorities prior to the arrest had made controlled purchases from the home, affidavit states.

Authorities during the warrant execution found the pill press with an unknown powdery substance on it, drug paraphernalia throughout the house and baggies for repackaging in the bedroom night stand, according to the probable cause affidavit. Dodd during an interview after his arrest admitted he has used the press to make pills in the past for profit, the affidavit states.

Drug Task Force Director Paul Smith said Thursday the pill press had moved between locations for about a month. He also said suspects could use the press to manufacture pills that contained fentanyl or other deadly substances. Law enforcement officials in Sebastian and Crawford counties in 2018 had received reports of fentanyl, which in 2017 was involved in nearly 30,000 overdose deaths in the United States, was sold in the region.

“Our main focus was to get that pill press off the street,” Smith said.

Smith said he knows of 10 to 15 people who have purchased pills made from the press from his investigation. He said Drug Task Force officials will investigate these users now that they have seized the pill press.

The powder substances found in the residence have been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for examination, a Drug Task Force news release said Thursday.