Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

In the early morning hours of October 5th, 2021, Detectives with the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Team (POP), with the assistance from Agents with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) and the California Highway Patrol Garberville office made a traffic stop on a vehicle on Highway 101 just south of Richardson’s Grove in southern Humboldt County.

Boggs.

POP Detectives had been investigating the driver, 50-year-old Eureka resident Toni Deann Boggs for trafficking Fentanyl into Humboldt County from the Bay Area. The passenger in the vehicle was identified as 52-year-old Eureka resident Thomas McLafferty.

Throughout the course of the investigation it was determined that Boggs had made four previous trips to the Bay Area over the past week to pick up narcotics. Detectives had previously obtained a search warrant for Boggs, her vehicle and her residence on the 1300 block of Long Street in Eureka.

During the service of the search warrant agents located 3.1 ounces of Fentanyl, 2.8 grams of Methamphetamine and .66 grams of heroin in the vehicle. During the service of the search warrant on Long Street in Eureka, detectives also located a digital scale and packaging materials.

Boggs was arrested and booked and is being held without bail at the Humboldt County Jail for the following charges:

• Transportation of controlled substances for sale
• Transportation of controlled substances across non-contiguous counties
• Possession of controlled substance for sale
• Conspiracy to commit a crime

McLafferty.

McLafferty was arrested and booked and is being held without bail at the Humboldt County Jail for the following charges:

• Transportation of controlled substances for sale
• Transportation of controlled substances across non-contiguous counties
• Conspiracy to commit a crime

Humboldt County has seen a substantial increase in illicit Fentanyl distribution, possession and overdose cases, including an alarming number of overdose deaths. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and a Schedule II narcotic. Fentanyl is often added to heroin and other drugs to increase their potency and can cause accidental overdose.

In just the month of September 2021, Police Officers with the Eureka Police Department administered Narcan (Naloxone) to eleven different subjects who had overdosed on opiates which is double any other month since the inception of the Narcan program. The Eureka Police Department believes the substantially high number of Narcan administrations is directly related to the Fentanyl that is flooding our community.