Bryan Whitby, 41, of Steelville, was arrested Feb. 24 at the ZX gas station on Main Street on allegations of two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Whitby was taken into custody and is currently being held on a no-bond warrant at the Crawford County Adult Detention Facility pending formal charges. There are no hearings currently scheduled.

According to the probable cause statement filed by the Steelville Police Department, Sgt. Josh Woodall was dispatched to the ZX gas station after a report of a man “nodding off” inside the store.

When he arrived, Woodall identified Whitby outside the store and explained to him why he was there. Woodall asked Whitby for consent to search his person, and Whitby consented.

“After starting the search I observed Whitby shuffle something in his hands in front of him,” Woodall wrote in his report. “I asked Whitby what was in his hands and he showed me a clear container containing numerous capsules. I recognized the capsules as fentanyl.”

Woodall placed Whitby under arrest. Whitby allegedly denied the capsules were fentanyl, claiming they contained heroin.

Whitby consented to Woodall’s request to search his car. During the search, Woodall located four snorting devices, one glass smoking device with heavy residue, one broken glass pipe and one mirror with residue.

“I asked Whitby about the smoking device with residue and he said the items was his,” Woodall wrote in his report. “He also admitted to snorting when using substances, and he obtained the capsules from the St. Louis area.”

A field test revealed that the capsules were positive for fentanyl and the glass pipe was positive for methamphetamine. 

Prosecuting Attorney David Smith filed a felony charge against Whitby, which alleges that Whitby is a prior and persistent drug offender. He cited Whitby’s guilty pleas for possession of a controlled substance in 2018 in St. Louis County and in 2016 in Franklin County.

Because of this, Whitby’s felony counts may be punishable as Class B felonies, and he could serve a term of five to 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.