What federal agents first believed to be a cache of cocaine turned out to be something far deadlier: lab tests confirmed that 833 grams of powder seized at a Moss Point residence was fentanyl — enough, by DEA estimates, to deliver more than 416,000 lethal doses.
The FBI’s Pascagoula Safe Streets Task Force announced that agents, along with the DEA and the Metropolitan Enforcement Team, executed a search warrant on July 13, 2018 at the home of Dale Ricardo Easterling Sr., 43, of Moss Point. The warrant followed Easterling’s arrest by Louisiana State Police, who found seven kilograms (16.48 pounds) of cocaine hidden in a compartment of the vehicle he was driving.
Mislabeled Pills and a Near-Kilogram of Fentanyl
Inside the residence, agents recovered what they initially logged as 833.05 grams of cocaine and 99 oxycodone dosage units. Laboratory analysis showed the powder was actually fentanyl, while the pills — improperly marked as oxycodone — contained fentanyl, acetaminophen and metamizole. Agents also seized six pounds of marijuana, four pounds of marijuana brownies, a .45 caliber Glock pistol and $10,000 in cash.
According to the DEA, just two milligrams of fentanyl is a lethal dose for most people, meaning the seized powder represented roughly 416,525 lethal dosage units — enough, officials noted, to kill nearly 14 percent of Mississippi’s population based on 2017 estimates.
A Warning to the Public
“The FBI and our partners want to warn the public of the dangers of fentanyl and encourage opioid abusers to dispose of opioids purchased illegally,” said Christopher Freeze, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge in Mississippi. “Fentanyl is the most prevalent and the most significant threat to the United States, including here in Mississippi,” added DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge J. Derryle Smith. “This seizure, which was almost one kilogram, has saved countless lives.”
The Pascagoula Safe Streets Task Force is a Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiative, drawing agents from the FBI alongside officers from the Pascagoula, Moss Point, Gautier and Ocean Springs police departments, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol. Officials pointed residents to secure drop-box locations across Mississippi for disposing of unused controlled substances, no questions asked.
Easterling faced federal charges in connection with the seizure. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.