Sarasota sheriff: Two charged with trafficking in morphine after 290 pills found

SARASOTA -- Two people were arrested just before 10 p.m. Wednesday after deputies responding to a suspicious incident reported at a fast food restaurant and found a significant quantity of pills, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies arrived at Taco Bell, 5557 Fruitville Rd., and spoke with Kaitlyn Laws, 19, of Sarasota, in her maroon Pontiac G6. Matthew Rodgers, 26, Sarasota, then came out of the restaurant and put a cloth bag he was carrying on the driver's seat, according to the release.

Laws consented to a search of her vehicle saying there was nothing illegal inside. Rodgers reportedly said the bag contained a prescription bottle belonging to a friend, the sheriff's office said. Deputies discovered three prescription bottles containing 290 morphine pills in two different strengths.

Rodgers told deputies to call his friend to confirm the pills were his, according to the sheriff's office. The friend denied knowing anything about the drugs and ended the call, but a text message appeared on the screen from a woman to whom Laws was trying to sell the pills, deputies said.

Laws and Rodgers were charged with trafficking in morphine and possession of Alprazolam, according to the release. Laws was also charged with possession of hydromorphone after a pill fell out of her cigarette pack, deputies said.

Laws was held on bonds totaling $13,000 and Rodgers was held on bonds totaling $15,000, according to the sheriff's office website.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Sarasota sheriff: Two charged with trafficking in morphine after 290 pills found."