Teller County drug bust highlights how fentanyl is making its way into rural communities
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- A recent major drug bust in Teller County is demonstrating that the fentanyl crisis isn’t just a ‘big city issue.’
The Teller County Narcotics Team and Sheriff’s Office arrested eight people in Florissant between August 16 and 21 after conducting three separate search warrants.
Deputies say they found 30 pounds of black market marijuana, 3 grams of methamphetamines, and 167 fentanyl pills.
"Any type of fentanyl, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, or black market marijuana being sold in our area... We're going to find you and we're going to arrest you,” said Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell following an announcement of the arrests.
Officials say there’s a common misconception that the fentanyl crisis is only a problem in Colorado Springs or Denver.
This bust proves otherwise.
"Teller County's just like every other county in the country," said Commander Lad Sullivan with the Teller County Sheriff’s Office. "Fentanyl is a problem. Drugs are a problem. When you start looking at the black market drugs -- marijuana -- even though it's legal, it's on the black market, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, all those things. They impact everywhere. They impact the schools, the communities, and the businesses. It's a national problem that needs to be addressed.”
"We were able to recover 167 fentanyl pills," said Sheriff Mikesell. "These are the same pills that they're locating everywhere in the United States. And these pills are the same pills that are making people overdose and die from fentanyl. So they are in our community. They are blue pills we're going to be continuing to attempt to recover more of and stop the distribution within our area."
The Sheriff’s Office believes there’s a connection between drug activity and messy properties, which they plan to address.
"We're changing the junk and rubbish ordinances so that we can go after these issues within the county," said Sheriff Mikesell.
"We're not going to be going around measuring your grass saying your grass is three inches tall and you have to mow," said Commander Sullivan. It's when you have 50 cars that aren't registered and they’re rusting away or 25 washing machines on your property, something's wrong there. So that's what we're trying to address. The whole idea of going through this change is just streamlining that process rather than taking six months to answer a complaint or whatever, we'll be able to deal with it in 30 days or so.”
The Sheriff’s Office is asking for the community’s help in identifying issues around Teller County, especially with fentanyl distribution.
They say all tips will be kept anonymous.
You can contact them in person at the Sheriff's Office on Highway 24, or by phone at (719) 687-9652.
You can also leave an anonymous tip on their website by clicking here.
