By GLEN WERLING
Two young men from Fort Wayne are facing serious drug-related charges after they were allegedly caught trying to deal drugs in the parking lot of a Bluffton park.
Preliminary pleas of not guilty were entered Thursday in Wells Circuit Court for Kasey Lee Codling, 22, and Juanzerrez Keshawn Dominguez, 21. Each are facing two counts of dealing in a narcotic drug, both Level 2 felonies. Bond for each of the men was set at $30,000. Both informed Judge Kent Kiracofe they will be retaining their own counsel to defend them.
On Aug. 12, the DETECT drug task force arranged with a person with the street name of “T” to purchase “M30s” which are oxycodone/fentanyl pills. “T” arranged to meet with the buyer at Washington Park. Detectives were already in place in the park prior to the arrival of “T” and the prearranged buyer. The agreement was for the purchase of 150 pills at $500.
Following the alleged sale, officers followed the vehicle of the suspects to the south parking lot of the Airplane Express convenience store, where a high risk traffic stop was performed, with both suspects ordered to exit the vehicle at gunpoint.
The driver was identified as Codling and the passenger was identified as Dominguez. Both denied participating in any illegal activity. Dominguez reportedly told the investigating detective he came down with Codling from Fort Wayne to go to the Bluffton Pizza Hut and was unaware why they were being detained. Codling allegedly told police he was just giving Dominguez a ride. He admitted meeting a man whom he did not know at the Bluffton park and that Dominguez and the man had a brief exchange of an item and cash, but he denied having any knowledge of what the exchange was about.
Dominguez allegedly was in possession of $7,145 in cash, but claimed he had gotten the money from the sale of a vehicle. A search of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee reportedly turned up an Oxycodone pill — a prescription pain medication for which neither Codling nor Dominguez reportedly had a prescription — as well as a Glock .22 caliber pistol with 10 rounds of ammunition.
The investigating deputy noted in his report that one of the $20 bills in Dominguez’s possession was covered in blue dye. When a bank or financial institution is robbed, often a “dye pack” is placed in with the stolen money that will later burst, covering the money in dye.
The pills that were purchased reportedly field tested positive for fentanyl.
Dominguez also reportedly is a member of a street gang called “300.”
Both men have a pretrial conference scheduled in Wells Circuit Court
glenw@news-banner.com
