BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— A Starke police officer set up an undercover drug buy at the Bradford County Fairgrounds, but the operation hit a road bump when the dealer ran a stop sign and was pulled over by another officer.
Mason Andrew Kent, 20, of Starke was arrested on May 20 for possession or delivery of opium, possession of drugs, criminal conspiracy, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
Starke police said on social media that they began investigating Kent after two April overdoses at Motel 6 revealed illegal narcotics the patients took were laced with Fentanyl, and that Kent was identified as someone who was selling drugs in the area.
According to an arrest report, Detective Christopher Keel had been communicating with the defendant over Snapchat about Kent selling Keel Percocet and Xanax pills. The pair negotiated a deal for 25 Percocet pills and 50 Xanax tablets for $550, which Kent claimed included a $25 discount in addition to his bulk pricing allowance.
But while the defendant was on his way to the Bradford County Fairgrounds to complete the transaction, he ran a stop sign at Clark Street and East Weldon Street, near Laredo’s Mexican Restaurant. Starke Police Officer David Hall conducted a traffic stop on Kent’s Acura.
Keel wrote that he relocated to the scene of the traffic stop and requested an open-air sniff of the vehicle by a police dog. The K-9 made two positive indications.
“After patting down Kent, I had Kent move to the sidewalk,” wrote Keel in the report. “Once Kent made it to the sidewalk, he bent down and spontaneously uttered: “My life is over.’”
Police found 25 Percocet pills and 50 Xanax tablets in the vehicle, which matched the order Keel and Kent negotiated over Snapchat.
Keel added that officers field tested the pills for Fentanyl with negative results.
The detective wrote that he arrested the defendant for the four drug-related felonies.
Hall issued a citation to Kent for running the stop sign.
