1,500: Fentanyl pill drug bust on I-40 leads to two arrests

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson held a meeting on Friday confirming his officers intercepted the flow of illegal drugs through the state with the latest fentanyl drug bust.

Sheriff Johnson says, on February 28 at about 7:30 a.m., deputies with the CITCO Team spotted a Subaru driving erratically on I-40 near eastbound near Anderson Road. Deputies spotted the Subaru making several lane changes without signaling in a construction zone.

The driver initially claimed he did not have a driver’s license or ID with him. The deputy reported the driver appeared to be wide-eyed and extremely rapid eye movements. And so when we talk about wide-eyed and rapid eye movements, unable to focus, unable to be attentive, things going on, obviously showing signs of indications of impairment, according to the police.

The driver claimed he and the passenger had been traveling to Arizona to spend a couple of days with friends but his answers were very brief and at times contradictory, said Sheriff Johnson.

Deputies then questioned the passenger, 41 year old Juliana Freeman of Arkansas. She reluctantly admitted that she had meth pipe on her and then removed a Ziploc bag from the front of her pants containing hundreds of blue, oval-shaped pills that we quickly identified as M30 Fentanyl pills. Police confirm they found more pills in a metal drink container that had a false bottom. In all police retrieved about 1,500 Fentanyl pills.

According to authorities, the driver later identified as 44 year old Mark Frieson of Arkansas admitted that he and Freeman had been going down to the Mexican border, buying pills for 50 cents each, then selling them in Arkansas for $20 each.  

Sheriff Tommie Johnson says, he has really been sounding the alarm on the border since we came to office and how it’s really impacted our communities in a negative way. Johnson believes this is an issue that speaks volumes to if they can do it, who else is doing it? And how prevalent is it? And how much is getting through that’s not getting caught?

Johnson continued in his meeting to stress the attention of the border crisis and the need to fix this. He called upon leadership at that space.

"Hey, no playing politics, anymore, we’re having real life issues with this. Let’s get this handled."