Another Fentanyl bust

BONNERS FERRY — A local man was found climbing a second story railing to an apartment in order to claim fentanyl pills.

Jeremy M. Gross, 33, of Bonners Ferry, is being charged with possession of fentanyl, a felony and a misdemeanor of drug paraphernalia.

Gross was seen climbing into the second story of his girlfriend’s apartment, by her brother who had been at the apartment to clean it out of any possible drug connection in order to provide her no easy access to the controlled substance, said Bonners Ferry Police Department Assistant Chief Marty Ryan in an affidavit.

The brother told BFPD that he had been in the apartment when he heard someone try to come through the locked door. When the person left the door, the brother then went around the building. He told police that he recognized Gross climbing over the balcony rail of the second story apartment and entered via the unsecured glass sliding door.

He said he was sure it was Gross since he had advised his sister to stay away from him due to him providing her drugs, Ryan said.

Ryan and BFPD Chief Brian Zimmerman conducted a search of the apartment. They observed a male “frantically moving around the bedroom as if either ransacking the room or attempting to hide or stash some unknown items,” Ryan said.

Ryan yelled out identifying Gross by name. He then asked him to come to the living room. He complied, but Ryan “immediately noted sweating profusely” and that Gross’s “pupils constricted down to approximately 2.0 mm.” Ryan recognized the odor of smoked fentanyl pills.

When questioned, Gross said that his girlfriend and tenant of the apartment was at work and that he is allowed to be at the home. He said that he entered through the second floor because he did not have a key.

Looking into the back room, Ryan was “overwhelmed by strong burning fentanyl pills.” In plain sight, he observed burnt tin foil and a torch for heating. Obviously Gross had been smoking pills prior to our contact, Ryan said.

Gross was read his rights and then Ryan found on the bed in plain view five blue “Mexi-pills,” or fentanyl and a “tooter” straw used to inhale heated fentanyl fumes.

The witness directed BFPD to a snowpile where he threw a fentanyl pill. He said he had intended to get the pill out of the house when he found it on the floor, but then remembered the reported dangers of handling fentanyl and tossed it as a precaution. The pill was collected by BFPD.

Gross was cuffed and transported to Boundary County Jail. En route Gross told Ryan that he purchased 15 “Mexi-pills” or fentanyl, the day prior. Gross explained that he intended to share them with his girlfriend to help wean her off the pills. The night before, they had a disagreement and he left. While on his lunch break, he came by the apartment. He assumed his girlfriend locked the apartment and so he entered from the balcony.

Gross told Ryan that he had smoked some of the pills just minutes to their arrival. He believed there were no more pills in the home, since he had dumped out a bag when he came in.

Ryan reached out to the girlfriend. She said she is entering treatment and that Gross had permission to be in her apartment.

BFPD only acquired six of the 15 pills. When Gross’s girlfriend was asked about this, she said that it would be nothing for Gross to have smoked the other nine within that time span. She told Ryan that they would smoke 10 pills at a time.

Ryan confirmed that the fentanyl pills recovered were the same in design and markings as others found in recent investigations. Small blue pills are known at the street level as “Mexi-Pills.”

Gross is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 25.

If anyone in the community has any questions or information regarding this incident, contact the BFPD at 208-267-2412.