Florida Woman Arrested After Accidentally Texting Cop Instead of Drug Dealer for Fentanyl

Nationwide — Octavia Wells, a 41-year-old woman from Bay County, Florida, was arrested after mistakenly texting a narcotics investigator to buy fentanyl instead of her drug dealer just before heading to rehab on New Year’s Eve.

Wells thought she was contacting her drug dealer to buy $45 worth of fentanyl. Instead, she accidentally contacted Stephen Pettijohn, a Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigator, whose number she had saved after a previous interaction with law enforcement, according to The Smoking Gun.

Believing she had reached her dealer, Wells arranged a meeting at a Tom Thumb store in Panama City. When she arrived, she was met by Pettijohn, who had gone undercover as the dealer. Officers searched her vehicle and found drug paraphernalia, with some items testing positive for fentanyl.

Wells told authorities she confused Pettijohn’s number with her dealer’s because their initials were similar.

Wells was charged with unlawful use of a two-way communication device, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with a suspended license.