PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — On Tuesday the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced that it seized 6.5 pounds of methamphetamine and 1.5 pounds of a heroin fentanyl mixture from a storage unit in the Callaway area. The deputies also found hundreds of fake Oxycodone pills and more than $28,000 in cash.
Prior to searching the storage unit, law enforcement found four ounces of crystal meth and a stolen gun in a home in eastern Bay County, leading to the searching of the storage unit.
“You’re talking about thousands of doses of both heroin fentanyl mixture and methamphetamine,” Sheriff Tommy Ford said. “And with the fentanyl, we’ve talked time and time again about how deadly that is.”
Joseph Rogers, 30, was charged with six counts in the seizure, including trafficking of methamphetamine and heroin.
1.5 pounds of heroin is enough for more than 1,200 doses, Ford said. Major drug busts of heroin fentanyl mixtures have become more common in recent years, Ford said.
“The amounts that we are seeing are just continually increasing,” Ford said. “I mean several years ago, to find to seize five to six pounds of heroin at an agency, at a local agency would be kind of unheard of.”
Tuesday’s announcement was one of several major drug busts throughout this year, Ford said. Less than two months ago, the Sheriff’s Office found 3.6 ounces of fentanyl at a traffic stop – enough for 50 lethal doses.
The bust was led by the Special Investigations Division, commanded by Lieutenant Kevin Francis. The division spent four to six weeks on the investigation.
“Everyday we’re gathering information or gathering intelligence about things like this,” Francis said. “Because this is a scourge on our society right now, this is the stuff that’s killing people every single day here.”
Rogers was already serving time in the Bay County Jail for other drug charges he received in the first week of May.
