Nearly 23 billion text messages are sent each day across the globe.
But text messages do not always make it to the correct recipient.
And a Florida woman’s life will never be the same after she sent this one text message to the wrong person.
Smartphones have become a part of normal, everyday life for most Americans.
Studies show 90% of U.S. adults own some type of smartphone.
According to HubSpot, 91% of American phone owners keep their devices within arm’s length at all times throughout the day.
The average American checks their smartphone roughly 96 times per day.
But they are using their smartphones for much more than just talking to friends, family, and business associates.
Americans mostly use their smartphones to browse social media or communicate with others via text messaging.
A study by VentureBeat found that 90% of text messages are read within three minutes.
And a Florida woman recently sent one text message that changed her life.
On December 31, 41-year-old Octavia Wells wanted to purchase some fentanyl in Florida where she lives.
Wells sent a text message to her drug dealer asking for a hookup with the dangerous and deadly substance.
The drug dealer responded and offered to sell her some fentanyl.
However, it was not her drug dealer.
It was a deputy from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
“On December 31, 2024, a local woman reached out through text messaging to someone she believed was a drug dealer,” the sheriff’s office wrote on social media. “The woman was looking for fentanyl to purchase before leaving town,” the sheriff’s office continued. “The woman identified herself as Octavia.”
The deputy played along with the drug deal and worked out a deal to sell fentanyl to Wells.
Wells agreed to meet the dealer at a local gas station.
But when she walked into the store, she did not find a fentanyl dealer.
Instead, she found several investigators from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division waiting to arrest her.
“The investigator immediately began communicating with Octavia in an undercover capacity, setting up the ‘sale,’” the sheriff’s office reported. “Octavia went to meet the man she thought was a dealer at a local gas station and instead met several investigators of the BCSO Special Investigations Division.”
The look on her face when she saw the police in the store must have been priceless.
Wells was arrested and charged with Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communication Device, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving while License Suspended/Revoked with Knowledge.
As the Bay County Sheriff’s Office put it, the moral of this story is to “be careful who you text.”
In reality the police likely saved the woman’s life.
Fentanyl is a dangerous and deadly drug that should be avoided.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
