John Jefferson
Octavia Wells (Bay County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida woman faces criminal charges after authorities said she accidentally texted a sheriff’s investigator whose number she had saved from a previous interaction under his initials, which were similar to her drug dealer’s.
Octavia Wells, 41, faces charges of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with a suspended license, online court records show.
The case came to light on Dec. 31. A Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigator received a series of unsolicited text messages from someone identified as “Octavia,” according to the affidavit.
The defendant allegedly said she needed “just a couple points,” referring to one-tenth of a gram of fentanyl. The defendant also stated that she had $45 to spend, and a meeting location was set, the document added.
Deputies found her driving on a highway, the affidavit said. She had allegedly been driving on a suspended license that authorities had notified her about during a previous interaction with police.
The defendant pulled into the agreed meeting location for the narcotics transaction — a gas station in Panama City — where she stopped at the gas pumps and got out of the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
A deputy approached her while she was standing near the driver’s door of her vehicle. She was detained and advised of her Miranda rights, the document said.
She allegedly admitted she was there to try to buy a small amount of fentanyl to use since she was going to rehab that day, the affidavit said.
The defendant also said she mistakenly texted an investigator whose number she had and whose initials matched her drug dealer’s, the document said.
A search of her vehicle allegedly turned up tin foil used to smoke fentanyl, fentanyl test strips in the center console with cut straws used to smoke fentanyl, a digital scale, and a cut straw under the driver’s seat.
She posted bond and was ordered not to possess or consume alcoholic beverages and submit to random urinalysis tests. She’s set to appear in court on Jan. 30.
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