OxyContin buy ends in arrest of Oak Harbor suspect
By JESSIE STENSLAND
Whidbey News Times Assistant editor
January 22, 2010 · 1:42 PM
Oak Harbor police and Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents arrested a suspected OxyContin dealer Wednesday.
An undercover agent purchased a bottle of 42 pills of 80-milligram OxyContin from 24-year-old Joshua Adams of Oak Harbor, according to Oak Harbor police. The agent paid $2,500 for the small bottle of pills, then police promptly swooped in and arrested him.
Detective Carl Seim said the team had been investigating Adams since last fall and they completed a separate purchase of OxyContin from him in November. NCIS previously investigated Adams for allegedly dealing to members of the Navy.
Adams was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of delivering marijuana, according to Detective Sgt. Teri Gardner.
Gardner said the case doesn’t appear to be related to the Jan. 4 pharmacy robbery in Coupeville.
The detectives say that people who sell OxyContin get their hands on the highly addictive painkiller in a number of ways. Some people get prescriptions and then sell the drugs. Dealers and users may steal the pills during home burglaries or rob pharmacies.
OxyContin use appears to be on the upswing in the area. “We’re concentrating on OxyContin a little more because we got word that teenagers are getting their hands on it,” Seim said.
Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.Comment on this story.
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