CRESTVIEW – A man who was found sleeping on a couch in a house trailer that wasn’t his was busted for drug possession after he was found with a needle and a container of “Roxy,” lawmen say.
On Feb. 25 the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a man who owned a trailer on Opportunity Drive. The man said the front door latch had been broken and a stranger was sleeping on the couch.
When a deputy arrived he found the man, 34-year-old Bill Edward Gallagher of Crestview, face-down on the couch. When Gallagher was awakened he said the man’s son gave him permission to sleep at the trailer. The deputy was unable to reach the son to confirm this.
Meanwhile, the deputy noted the man appeared to be nervous and kept reaching for his left front pocket. When a backup deputy arrived, the first deputy tried to place Gallagher in handcuffs. At first he cooperated, but then Gallagher reached to his pocket. The other deputy saw a hypodermic needle in his hand. Gallagher dropped it and said he didn’t have a needle.
When deputies searched the area they found a small metal container on the couch where Gallagher had been lying. The contents – a clear fluid residue – tested positive for methamphetamines.
Gallagher continued to insist he’d been given permission to sleep in the trailer, did not have a needle and knew nothing about the con-tainer, the deputy wrote in the report. Eventually, he confessed to owning the needle and container, and said he used them to “indulge.” When asked to clarify he said he indulged in Humerus, a medication for diabetes, but later admitted used the needle to shoot up “Roxy,” a slang term for Roxycodone.
He was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, drug equipment possession and violation of probation.
His court date is April 9.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Man contacts deputies after finding stranger asleep on his couch