Heather Renee Burgess (PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 38-year-old Stillwater woman has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending her arraignment on Aug. 20 on a charge of trafficking fentanyl, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $200,000 fine on conviction.
The defendant, Heather Renee Burgess, was a back-seat passenger in a Nissan on July 18 that police were watching in the parking lot of a hotel described in an affidavit by Stillwater Police Detective Josh Carson as “a hub for illegal drug activity.”
“Several individuals exited a second-story room on the west side,” including Burgess, the affidavit said.
“I have received numerous tips from several sources stating both (the other woman) and Heather were moving fentanyl to Stillwater from a source in Oklahoma City,” the detective alleged in his affidavit.
On a traffic stop, “I heard Detective McSpadden ordering Heather to quit moving and to show her hands. Detective McSpadden asked Heather to step out of the vehicle. Heather was holding US currency and a straw with burnt residue on the end. These straws are used in the fentanyl smoking process to inhale the fumes produced by heating fentanyl on foil,” Detective Carson alleged in his affidavit.
“Detective McSpadden told me Heather stated there were blue fentanyl pills in the car located in a black ‘blunt container.’ I began a search of the vehicle and found a black blunt container with several blue M30 fentanyl pills,” about which the other occupants in the car denied knowledge, Detective Carson alleged in his affidavit.
Detective Carson alleged in his affidavit, on the day after her arrest, “I brought Heather into the jail interview room. Heather stated (the other woman) is speaking with someone in prison and two days ago picked up 100 fentanyl pills and brought them to Stillwater.”
