DOCUMENT: Crime

Drug Suspect Claimed Heroin Was Laxative

Purported ex-lax was found in ex-con’s auto

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Laxative Tale

FEBRUARY 1--An ex-con facing a felony narcotics collar insisted to Florida police that the substance he was found in possession of was not heroin, but rather a chocolate laxative, according to an arrest report

Steven Coplen, 29, was driving near his home in Crestview Saturday afternoon when he was pulled over for an expired vehicle registration.

A subsequent search of the auto turned up assorted drug paraphernalia, Oxycodone pills, and a plastic bag with methamphetamine residue. Cops also discovered 26 grams of heroin under the driver’s seat and one gram on the passenger side floorboard, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office report.

Coplen, however, denied he was holding heroin, instead claiming that the substance was a “chocolate laxative,” a la ex-lax. Pictured above, Coplen did not offer an explanation as to why some of the purported laxative was stashed under his seat.

Due to its color and texture, black tar heroin can sometimes resemble dark chocolate or fudge (as seen in the below evidence photo from an unrelated drug case).  

Arrested on multiple felony drug charges, Coplen was booked into the county jail, where he is being held on $15,000 bond.

Coplen’s rap sheet includes convictions for grand theft, heroin possession, probation violation, and methamphetamine possession. He was sentenced in May 2019 to 18 months in prison on the theft and drug charges. He was released from state custody last May. (1 page)