Westerly police charge 2 women with possession of fentanyl | Police & Courts

WESTERLY — Two central Connecticut women are facing drug charges after police found them sleeping in a car at the Cumberland Farms store on Granite Street while in possession of fentanyl.

The women, Kimberly Letizia, 33, of Manchester, and Shaylyn Jean Defilio, 22, of Bristol, were arraigned in Fourth Division District Court on Monday on one count of possession of a narcotic substance. They did not enter a plea and were released on personal recognizance, according to court records.

Westerly Police Chief Shawn Lacey said they were arrested after a caller reported at about 9:30 Sunday that three women were sleeping in a parked car at the gas station-convenience store.

Officers found two women in the front seats and a third woman in the back. Lacey said that the officers knocked several times to get their attention and eventually awakened the frontseat passenger, Defilio, who immediately reached to the floor for her purse. When questioned, police said Defilio admitted to officers that she had needles in her purse.

A search led to the seizure of needles, drug paraphernalia and about a dozen baggies containing traces of white powder. The powder tested positive as “pure fentanyl,” Lacey said, and has been sent to the state laboratory for further analysis.

According to a police report, officers spoke with the three women individually. They had stopped in the Westerly area to rest while traveling from Waterbury to Providence, the police said.

No drugs or paraphernalia were found on the backseat passenger, the police said, and she was later released without being charged.

Letizia and Defilio are due in Washington County Superior Court for a felony screening in June.

jvallee@thewesterlysun.com