Accused drug dealer arrested after accidentally calling Flagler County commissioner

Commissioner chair Joe Mullins helped deputies set up fake drug buy

PALM COAST, Fla. – An accused Flagler County drug dealer got a big surprise over the weekend when deputies say he accidentally texted a county commissioner to try to sell drugs.

With elections around the corner, commissioner chair Joe Mullins said he’s been calling residents from his cell phone about voting but Sunday night he got an interesting call back from one of the numbers.

“The guy said ‘Hey do you still need what you needed the other day?’ and I went ‘What are you talking about?’ It really, really threw me off. I said ‘I think you have the wrong number.’ He said ‘You don’t need the eight ball’,” Mullins said.

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Mullins said being in recovery from cocaine and alcohol for a decade himself, he knew what was happening and to get the drugs off the streets. He said he called the sheriff’s office which asked him to help detectives set up a fake drug deal.

“For four hours we went back and forth on text and he finally agreed that he would walk down to the Lake at Birds of Paradise and he would bring the drugs,” Mullins said.

Investigators said Jack Fisher, 18, showed up Sunday night expecting to sell cocaine to a person but was instead met by detectives and attempted to throw the drugs in the lake when he saw them.

Sheriff Rick Staly said he also didn’t have cocaine but instead 3.17 grams of fentanyl.

“That sounds like not much but it’s enough to kill over 1,500 people,” Staly said.

Staly said it’s another example of the rise in drugs in the area getting ahold of the younger population and how a lot of the drugs aren’t what dealers or buyers believe or say they are.

“Our seizures on fentanyl is up over 275% so far this year compared to all of last year,” he said.

Fisher is now in jail on a $3,000 dollar bond. He’s facing felony drug possession and illegal use of communication device charges.

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