Phillip Patrick Laurie of Mountain Home, who was allegedly trading rides for drugs while working on the midway at the recent Baxter County Fair, entered a not guilty plea to the charges filed against him stemming from the incident during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, a deputy sheriff working at the fair was approached by a patron concerning Laurie after it had been alleged he was exchanging rides for drugs. The deputy and the manager of the company operating the midway approached Laurie and asked if he was in possession of drugs. Laurie is alleged to have said he had some “weed.” He was asked to empty his pockets, and he was discovered to have a blue bag containing two syringes, nine used fentanyl transdermal patches, two spoons and what appeared to be drug residue and an orange prescription bottle containing an unknown liquid. Laurie was also carrying a bottle of lemon juice commonly used to extract the remaining fentanyl from used transdermal patches, which can then be ingested orally or injected intravenously.
The 26-year-old Laurie handed the deputy the blue bag, but then turned and fled on foot. He was arrested by officers from the Mountain Home Police Department a few days later at a private residence.
He was booked into the county jail just before 7:20 p.m. on September 21st and was released on $1,500 bond about an hour later.
Laurie was ordered to reappear in Circuit Court on February 8th.
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