Deputies arrest man with 900 fentanyl pills and a handgun near Camp Hope

Spokane Valley sheriff’s deputies arrested a Camp Hope resident carrying more than 900 fentanyl pills, 23 grams of methamphetamine and a handgun earlier this month, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said in a release on Wednesday.

Two additional handguns, as well as stolen credit cards and stolen clothing, were also recovered from the man’s vehicle.

Gavin B. Barrett, 20, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and a concealed firearm violation.

Sheriff’s office investigators were following up on a burglary investigation from Oct. 14 in Spokane Valley when they made contact with Barrett and three other occupants of a 2003 Honda Acura on the morning of Dec. 9. They were on the 3200 block of East Pacific Avenue, near the homeless encampment known as Camp Hope.

Marked patrol vehicles blocked the vehicle, and its occupants were detained. The other three occupants were released without charges. All four were residents of Camp Hope and were trespassed from the camp by camp staff, the sheriff’s office said.

Camp Hope staff had asked Barrett to leave the camp numerous times, but he refused , according to Julie Garcia, who helps operate the camp through her organization, Jewels Helping Hands.

“We asked police for nine months to remove this kid from our lot, but no one would help us until they did this,” she said. “They had been running amok for months.”

The four people who were removed from the camp all lived together in the same trailer , which was also towed out of the area.

Barrett initially claimed that he had recently purchased the vehicle and found a backpack that contained a handgun and fentanyl, the sheriff’s office said in a release. He later told authorities that he had been selling the fentanyl for the last month and a half. He said he purchased the pistol “for protection” from someone he knows, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies are still investigating the incident, and additional arrests and charges are possible, the sheriff’s office said.