Sarasota County teen's overdose leads to drug arrests

A teen is recovering from an overdose after using a dangerous hallucinogenic drug, and five men are in custody following a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the incident.

Deputies arrested four teens and a 25-year-year-old man this weekend on a variety of narcotics charges, including possession of 25i-NBOMe, a relatively new drug similar to LSD and MDMA, also known as molly. Officers seized 26 hits of 25i, 9.1 grams of molly, roughly 60 grams of marijuana and 5.3 grams of hash, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

The arrests came after surveillance and undercover drug purchases, according to probable cause affidavits.

The five individuals arrested are as follows:
+ Kyle Baker, 16
+ Cooper Barkow, 18
+ Kyler Blessit, 18
+ John Johnston, 18
+ Richard Reese, 25

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classified 25i compounds as Schedule I illegal drugs last year, explaining that “the data suggest that extremely small amounts of these drugs can cause seizures, cardiac and respiratory arrest and death.”

“This investigation began with an overdose from which, thankfully, the teen is recovering’” said Sheriff Tom Knight in the release. “As stewards of public safety our ultimate fear of course is that we find out about these ‘new’ synthetics in a circumstance even worse than this one, when recovery isn’t option.”