Jailers find fentanyl in inmate’s underwear

TARBORO — Authorities say a Rocky Mount man booked into the Edgecombe County Detention Center had a bag of pressed fentanyl pills hidden in his underwear.

Officers made the discovery while searching 50-year-old Derrick Demario Whitaker of Windsor Drive as he changed clothes, the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office said in an Aug. 13 release. Rocky Mount police had served him with an arrest warrant for possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver heroin.

“Upon his arrival, Whitaker was put through a body scanner and no foreign items were located,” the release says, adding that a detention officer “did a full body search as Whitaker was being dressed out. While in this room, a clear bag fell from Whitaker’s underwear/crotch area.”

The detention officer stepped on the bag so Whitaker couldn’t retrieve it. Edgecombe County narcotics detectives determined the items inside “appeared to be the same pressed fentanyl pills that are plaguing the surrounding counties,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration calls 100 times more potent than morphine. Traffickers often mix fentanyl with other substances and use pill presses to make counterfeits that resemble prescription drugs such as oxycodone, Xanax and Adderall, the DEA explains on its website.

“It was found that Whitaker had these pills in his underwear since he was arrested and did not want to tell the Rocky Mount police officers in fear of facing additional charges,” the release says.

Rocky Mount police served Whitaker with an order for arrest charging him with possession of a controlled substance on prison/jail premises. He received an initial $5,000 secured bond on the new charge.

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