Port St. Lucie police announce arrest related to fatal drug overdose

PORT ST. LUCIE − A Port St. Lucie man was arrested on murder and other charges after police reported linking him to the fentanyl death last year of 34-year-old Michael McGaffin, according to records and Acting Port St. Lucie Police Chief Richard Del Toro on Thursday.

Edwin Lewis Thompson, 32, is in the St. Lucie County Jail on charges including first-degree murder − unlawful distribution of a controlled substance; sale, delivery or possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl; possession of fentanyl; and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.

The case began July 20, 2022, when police went to a parking lot at Winn-Dixie at Southwest Bayshore and Southwest Port St. Lucie boulevards. McGaffin’s brother found McGaffin dead.

The brother said McGaffin had called him about 7 p.m. on July 19, but the brother didn’t answer because he was at work, an affidavit states. The brother tried to call him back the next morning, but McGaffin didn’t answer. The brother wound up contacting Thompson, described in an affidavit as a “drug dealer” McGaffin purchased narcotics from in the past.

The brother “was told by Mr. Thompson to check the Winn-Dixie parking lot, which unfortunately when he did, he found his brother deceased,” Del Toro said.

Investigators noted McGaffin was in the driver’s seat of his Toyota Avalon.

Del Toro said investigators found a baggie with a powder substance that tested positive for fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid that has been linked to many deaths.

According to an arrest affidavit, the chief medical examiner determined McGaffin died of “fentanyl intoxication” with the manner “best classified as accident.”

Police “searched the victim's phone and located messages between the victim and Thompson about meeting up at the Winn-Dixie that night so the suspect could sell drugs to the victim,” Del Toro said.

Del Toro said police found transactions on the phone through an app indicating McGaffin sent Thompson $20 for the drugs.

“And over the past year, our detectives along with the State Attorney's Office completed multiple search warrants and processed evidence for this case,” he said.

Asked what allowed investigators to file a murder charge, Del Toro noted the circumstances of the case, including alleged links to Thompson via the cash transaction, text messages and the brother’s testimony.

It’s the first murder charge brought by Port St. Lucie police against an alleged drug dealer in an overdose death case, Del Toro said.

He said the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office was investigating drug cases involving Thompson and during a search warrant recovered a phone.

“This is obviously a battle in our community that we're facing, and we're working together to make sure we get the job done,” he said.

Del Toro said over the last two years there have been 35 opioid-related deaths in the city.

“This is somebody who doesn't need to be out in society right now wreaking havoc,” Del Toro said, noting Thompson’s criminal background, which begins in 2003, records show.

It's not the first time law enforcement officials on the Treasure Coast charged a person in connection with drug-related deaths.

Martin County Sheriff’s officials in April arrested Kevin Joseph Whitehouse, now 42, following an investigation that determined in January he provided fentanyl to a woman “that consequently caused her to overdose and die,” records state.

A grand jury handed up an indictment in June charging Whitehouse with first degree murder – unlawful distribution of a controlled substance; and sale, delivery or possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl, records show.

In July, a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce returned an indictment charging Keyon Lewis, of Vero Beach, with distribution of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, the use of which resulted in a death; and possession with intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl.

Lewis is accused in November 2021 of distributing fentanyl to a man in a restaurant parking lot in Vero Beach, and officials alleged it killed him.

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Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: PSL police arrest man in fatal drug overdose case