EVANSVILLE — When Bally’s casino security officers retrieved an abandoned backpack from the casino floor Friday, they found something police say is far rarer than the illicit fentanyl pills that have driven Indiana’s overdose crisis: pharmaceutical-grade liquid fentanyl in glass vials, the kind used in hospital operating rooms.
The discovery led to the arrest of Kendrick Deshawn Stevison, 38, of Memphis, Tennessee, on charges of dealing a narcotic drug and possession of methamphetamine. Stevison faces a Level 2 felony on the dealing count, a charge that carries a sentencing range of 10 to 30 years under Indiana law.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Evansville Police Officer Zach Turpin, Bally’s security called around 3:15 p.m. May 16 after discovering the bag.
Inside a black Reebok backpack, Turpin wrote, he found six glass vials of liquid fentanyl, each labeled “prescription only liquid IV” and containing 2 milliliters of the drug. Also recovered was part of the original box the vials came in, which indicated the packaging originally held 25 vials, meaning 19 were already gone.
Alongside the fentanyl, police found a quart-sized zip-lock bag stuffed with sandwich bags, which Turpin noted in the affidavit are “commonly used for packaging and selling narcotics.” A credit card bearing Stevison’s name was also found inside the backpack, along with a key of which Stevison later claimed ownership.
Bally’s security reviewed surveillance footage and reportedly identified Stevison — wearing a distinctive green sweatsuit — as the person who set the bag near the casino entrance before walking inside.
Officers found Stevison at a gaming table. Between the cash on the table and money in his pockets, he had $2,706 on him, police said.
Stevison reportedly told police he had grabbed the backpack from a car driven by a man he knew only as “Will” or “Willie” and denied knowing the fentanyl was inside, according to Turpin’s affidavit. He acknowledged the bag was his but said the only items in it that belonged to him were hygiene products and shorts in a Dollar General bag. He told police he had no knowledge of the fentanyl vials, the affidavit states.
He was arrested without incident and booked into the Vanderburgh County jail.
Arrest shines light on potential for drug diversion
The fentanyl vials described in the affidavit are consistent with pharmaceutical fentanyl citrate injection, a controlled substance used primarily in surgical and intensive care settings for anesthesia and pain management.
The drug typically comes in small glass vials at a concentration of 50 micrograms per milliliter, matching the 2-milliliter format described by police. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Unlike illicit fentanyl — which is now overwhelmingly manufactured in clandestine labs in Mexico using chemical precursors from China and pressed into counterfeit pills — pharmaceutical fentanyl flows through a federally regulated supply chain requiring Drug Enforcement Administration registration at each step. When it appears outside that chain, it must have been diverted somewhere: through theft, fraudulent prescribing, or corruption within a medical facility or distributor.
Stevison’s arrest affidavit doesn’t say where the vials came from. But recent drug diversion cases across the United States illustrate how potent opioids like fentanyl can reach the street without ever crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Some recent examples:
Federal authorities say pharmaceutical diversion accounts for a small fraction of the overall illicit fentanyl supply, which is dominated by synthetically manufactured product from Mexico. And in Vanderburgh County, illicit opioids rather than diverted pharmaceuticals are the leading cause of overdose deaths, according to county overdose data reviewed by the Courier & Press.
From 2023 through 2025, fentanyl was the single most prevalent substance cited in Vanderburgh County fatal overdoses, and the supply almost certainly comes from the illicit market, not medical channels, officials say. Prescription opioids diverted from the medical supply chain or otherwise misused by patients make up a much smaller portion of deadly overdoses, the data show.
Where the case goes from here
Stevison was scheduled for an initial hearing Wednesday in Vanderburgh Superior Court 2 before Judge Wayne S. Trockman. His bond was set at $15,000 cash, with conditions requiring that he not possess any controlled substance except as validly prescribed.
Houston Harwood may be reached at houston.harwood@courierpress.com
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Operating room fentanyl vials found at Bally’s. Memphis man arrested
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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