After search of vehicle, amount of fentanyl seized soared
Sep. 13—A day after narcotics investigators arrested a Kingston man suspected of trafficking fentanyl, a search warrant executed on his car ended up finding more of the lethal drug.
A lot more.
Kevin Neysmith faces new drug counts and a gun charge after a search of his vehicle brought the total amount of fentanyl seized in his arrest to 432 grams, or nearly a pound, according to a criminal complaint.
Moosic police and Lackawanna County detectives first arrested Neysmith, 42, 2 Holiday Drive, after he drove to a borough hotel Friday to sell drugs, police said.
He jumped out of his moving vehicle as Lackawanna County SWAT team members moved to stop him and threw a bag containing thousands of dollars as he ran.
An initial search found more than 46 grams of fentanyl, a drug that has become a main driver in the deadly opioid epidemic.
Investigators arrested him and applied for a search warrant to go through his vehicle. Magisterial District Judge Alyce Hailstone Farrell approved it.
Inside, authorities found a passport with his picture but with a different name, Kevin Blackwood. They also found a birth certificate for that name.
As police searched the car, they noticed some screws near the front passenger airbag were not part of the vehicle's original manufacturing and seemed to have been removed and installed several times.
They removed the screws and found a hidden compartment filled with fentanyl and a semi-automatic pistol.
Neysmith remains in the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Sept. 22.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.
