In a mix-up worthy of a sitcom, a Florida woman texted her "dealer," only to find herself chatting with an undercover cop instead.
Octavia Wells (Bay County Sheriff's Office)
In a mix-up worthy of a sitcom, a Florida woman texted her “dealer,” only to find herself chatting with an undercover cop instead.
In the annals of criminal missteps, this one deserves a standing ovation—or perhaps a facepalm. On New Year’s Eve, as many of us were contemplating resolutions, Octavia Wells was apparently planning a different kind of detox. Before heading off to drug rehab, the 41-year-old Floridian decided to stock up on fentanyl, as one does when they’ve missed the whole point of rehab.
Armed with $45 and a misplaced sense of confidence, Wells texted her dealer to buy “a couple of points” of fentanyl. For the uninitiated, that’s drug-deal lingo for increments of 1/10th of a gram, but in this case, it might as well have been code for “bad decisions ahead.”
In her texts, Wells dutifully identified herself as “Octavia,” because apparently, anonymity is overrated when dealing with illegal substances. She arranged to meet her “dealer” at a Tom Thumb convenience store in Panama City—because nothing screams discretion like a public parking lot and neon lights.
There was just one tiny hitch in her plan: her “dealer” turned out to be Stephen “PJ” Pettijohn, an investigator with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. Yes, Wells had unwittingly reached out to the very man tasked with busting people like her.
As it turns out, Wells had saved Pettijohn’s number in her phone after a previous run-in with law enforcement, according to a complaint affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun. Why, you ask? Maybe she thought they’d swap recipes someday. According to a police affidavit, the mix-up happened because Pettijohn’s initials were “similar to her drug dealer’s.”
Upon arriving at the rendezvous point, Wells was greeted not by her supplier but by law enforcement officers, who promptly arrested her. If you’re wondering whether she immediately realized her blunder, the answer is yes, and it’s safe to say her New Year got off to a sobering start.
A search of Wells’s vehicle revealed drug paraphernalia that tested positive for fentanyl because, of course, it did. She was charged with one felony and two misdemeanors, then booked into the county jail before being released on $5,000 bond. Her judge-imposed conditions include no alcohol, random urinalysis, and, presumably, not texting police officers for drugs.
Wells is due back in court on January 30, where she’ll have a chance to explain her unique interpretation of “going out with a bang” on New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, let this be a cautionary tale: double-check your contacts, folks—especially when your plans involve narcotics.
As for Investigator Pettijohn, we can only hope he’s updating his resume to include “accidental drug dealer”—a job title that might just be as uniquely Florida as this entire escapade.
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