Bernie police arrest woman with Fentanyl powder

BERNIE — A shoplifting investigation at a Dollar General Store in Bernie earlier this week resulted in an area woman being charged with possessing Fentanyl in its powder form.

“This is the first case in Stoddard County of Fentanyl in its powdered formed,” Bernie Chief of Police Justin Allen said in a press release. “Fentanyl typically comes in a solid or liquid form.

Rankin

“Fentanyl powder is merely a new medium for Fentanyl to enter the system. (It) is even more dangerous than regular Fentanyl due to its vast mobility and granular nature.”

Charged Wednesday with the Class D felony of possession of a controlled substance was Tanya Rankin, 37, of Cape Girardeau.

The charge against Rankin stems from an investigation by the Bernie Police Department, which began at about 2:15 p.m. Monday at the Dollar General Store on South Walnut Street.

A store employee, according to Bernie Lt. Roy Boyce’s probable-cause statement, reported “there was a woman in the store with reddish hair that she believed was shoplifting items. She also stated that she believed the woman was under the influence of drugs.”

When Boyce arrived, he said, he was told the woman, later identified as Rankin, was in the greeting card aisle.

The employee, he said, reported Rankin had been “picking items up and dropping them.”

When Boyce contacted Rankin, he said, he initially noticed her shopping cart was filled with several items.

“I then asked the woman if she had been shoplifting items in the store; she said no,” Boyce said. “At this point, I noticed that her speech was slurred and her eyes were watery.”

Boyce said he subsequently asked Rankin whether she had money to pay for the items in her cart.

“She said yes and then explained that she had $12,” Boyce said. “I then told her that would probably not be enough to pay for all the items she had.”

When Boyce asked for identification, “she then opened a pink wallet she had in the cart and pulled out her Social Security card and gave it to me as she was digging around in the wallet,” Boyce explained.

As Rankin unzipped the coin pocket, Boyce said, he saw a white capsule.

“I pointed at it and asked her ‘What is that?’” Boyce said. “She said Fentanyl.”

At that point, Boyce said, he arrested and handcuffed Rankin.

“I then opened the coin pocket of the wallet that was unzipped and saw six capsules that contained a white powder,” Boyce said. “I then noticed a plastic straw in another pocket of the wallet that contained white powder residue.”

When Boyce did a pat down of Rankin’s person, he said, he found two more capsules containing a white powder residue.

The white powder, Boyce said, was field tested and found to be positive for heroin/opiates.

Rankin was subsequently booked at the Bernie City Jail and later transferred to the Stoddard County Jail, where she is being held on a $7,500 cash bond.

Rankin is to appear before Associate Circuit Judge Joe Satterfield Thursday for arraignment on her charge.

According to Allen, the powder form of Fentanyl that Rankin is accused of possessing makes the chances of accidental exposure more likely than when dealing with Fentanyl patches.

“There are several cases where traffic stops (which) turned drug busts of powder Fentanyl almost took several police officers’ lives,” Allen said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Allen said, reports Fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports Fentanyl was responsible for more than 28,000 overdose death in 2017.