INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 45-year-old man was jailed after officials said he led police on a high-speed chase before officers found nearly 80 grams of fentanyl in his vehicle.
Christopher Jon Bauer
PHOTO PROVIDED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Christopher Jon Bauer, of Barefoot Bay, was charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance; sale, delivery or possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl; possession or sale of methamphetamine with intent; possession of cocaine; tampering with or destroying evidence; possession of drug cultivation paraphernalia; aggravated fleeing and eluding and resisting arrest without violence. Bauer was held Tuesday at the Indian River County Jail on $230,000 bond.
Bauer’s arrest was part of a joint investigation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Sebastian Police Department.
The Sebastian Special Investigations Unit received a tip July 18 that Bauer purchased two ounces of fentanyl per week from the dark web, reports show. The drug packages were shipped from California to an address in Sebastian, police said.
Police learned a woman was being coerced to have the packages containing fentanyl delivered in her name because she owed a large debt to Bauer, reports show. Bauer would then sell the drugs from his home, police said.
One of the packages arrived Aug. 31 at the U.S. Postal Service Sebastian post office, prompting police to conduct surveillance in the area, reports show. Police said Bauer and the woman traveled in a red 2008 Cadillac into the post office parking lot.
The woman went inside the building and returned with a priority mail envelope, police said. When the woman got back in the Cadillac, Bauer drove the vehicle west in the parking lot toward a white pickup.
Officers said the woman conducted a hand-to-hand drug transaction with the pickup driver.
Police activated their emergency equipment to conduct a traffic stop on the Cadillac, but Bauer accelerated in an attempt to avoid the marked police cruisers, reports show. Officers said Bauer drove recklessly and swerved in-and-out of traffic.
Bauer reached more than 90 miles per hour in a 35-mph posted speed limit zone, reports show. Police disabled the Cadillac by bumping its rear, causing the vehicle to spin until it stopped on Mango Street, officials said.
Police searched Bauer, along with the Cadillac, and found 79.8 grams of fentanyl with a street value of $11,970, 14.6 grams of methamphetamine with a street value of $730 and one gram of hydrochloride with a street value of $50, reports show. Officers also found $1,229 folded in individual drug folds, officials said.
Police arrested Bauer and booked him into the county jail. Bauer has an arraignment at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 6, court records show.
