BUCKHANNON – Two West Virginia women were arrested after they were allegedly found in possession of illegal substances – some of which contained fentanyl – at the Buckhannon Taco Bell.

Audra Trickett, 36, of Shinnston, W.Va., was arrested for two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, a felony. Zeearra Gray, 27, of Buckhannon, was arrested on one count of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, a felony.

According to criminal complaints in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Cpl. Angel McCauley with the Buckhannon Police Department, on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, McCauley responded to Taco Bell after the manager called the E911 Upshur County Communication Center. The manager told telecommunicators that an employee had reportedly witnessed two females in the bathroom with a pipe used to ingest drugs.

The manager stated the two females – later identified as Gray and Trickett – had been in the bathroom for some time. Upon her arrival, McCauley could hear multiple people in the bathroom. McCauley knocked on the door, and when two women answered on the third knock, both females stepped out of the restroom.

When McCauley asked if they had anything on them, Trickett stated she did and handed McCauley a glass pipe. McCauley went back into the bathroom with both females after obtaining clearance from her supervisor, according to the report.

According to the criminal complaint, both females allegedly pulled out drug paraphernalia, including “cut straws, ‘tudors’ and needles along with aluminum foil.” Upon conducting a thorough search, police found Trickett allegedly possessed 1.64 grams of a crystal-like substance in her right front pocket that she claimed was methamphetamine.

McCauley uncapped a metal container with aluminum foil in it, and when the officer opened the foil, she allegedly observed white powder. Both females were placed under arrest and transported back to Buckhannon Police Department.

Upon field-testing the white powder, it allegedly tested positive for fentanyl, according to the police report. Trickett told police she was paying for a ride back to Clarksburg with the drugs. Gray allegedly stated she and Trickett had been communicating on Facebook Messenger via a third party’s account and had agreed to the exchange of the drugs for a ride.

“Zeearra [Gray] and other males had agreed to give [Audra Trickett] a ride in exchange for what Zeearra believed to be heroin,” McCauley wrote in the complaint.

The file also noted that Gray and the above-referenced male individuals had picked up Trickett at the Mountaineer Mart on the Old Weston Road and then traveled to Taco Bell in Buckhannon.

Upshur County Magistrate Alan Suder set bail for Trickett at $75,000 cash only and bail for Gray at $30,000 cash or surety.

The potential penalty for a conviction of delivery of a controlled substance is a fine of not more than $50,000, imprisonment in a state penitentiary for three to 15 years, or both. Additionally, the possible penalty for a conviction of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance is confinement in a state penitentiary for one to five years or a fine of not more than $10,000, or, at the discretion of the court, both.