Covington Area Man Arrested – 780 Fentanyl Pills Seized

Members of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Narcotics Division recently seized approximately 780 fentanyl pills from a man suspected to be dealing in the Covington area: 23 year-old Derrick McDowell. 

On April 18, 2024, after receiving information that McDowell was regularly distributing narcotics in and around the Covington area, members of the STPSO Narcotics Division conducted a traffic stop on McDowell in the area of Joseph Road and Highway 36 near Covington. During that traffic stop, McDowell was found to be in possession of approximately 273 counterfeit pressed pills suspected to contain fentanyl. The pills were packaged for distribution, and McDowell was also found to be in possession of drug paraphernalia indicative of narcotics distribution. 

This traffic stop led to the execution of a search warrant at McDowell’s residence in the 200 block of Vintage Drive near Covington. Detectives discovered approximately 507 more counterfeit pressed pills suspected to contain fentanyl, approximately 23 dosage units of Vyvanse, approximately 2.8 grams of marijuana and more additional drug paraphernalia indicative of narcotics distribution during that search. Approximately 492 of the suspected fentanyl pills were located in a WD-40 can that was outfitted with a hidden compartment on the bottom. 

McDowell admitted to regularly distributing fentanyl pills to St Tammany Parish residents. 

He was arrested and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center.

“𝘍𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺,”𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 said. “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.”