Pair charged with trafficking fentanyl, cocaine

COEUR d’ALENE — Police arrested two Washington residents Thursday night who allegedly possessed more than 800 fentanyl pills.

Nicholas T. Dizard, 45, of Mountlake Terrace, Wash., and Melani R. Henifin, 36, of Edmonds, Wash., are both charged with trafficking in fentanyl, trafficking in cocaine and possession of a controlled substance, all felonies. 

The charges stem from Thursday night, when a sheriff’s deputy on patrol at the Coeur d’Alene Casino said he saw drug paraphernalia in plain sight within a parked vehicle and made contact with the vehicle’s occupants, later identified as Henifin and Dizard. 

A search of the vehicle allegedly yielded a tackle box containing “an assortment of narcotics,” according to court documents. 

Police said they found 808 fentanyl pills. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid estimated by the Centers for Disease Control to be more potent than morphine, used to treat severe pain such as advanced cancer pain.   

Court records indicate police also found about 34 ounces of cocaine and about 3.5 ounces of ketamine inside the vehicle. 

In Idaho, knowingly possessing between 28 and 200 grams of cocaine is considered trafficking. The offense is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison. 

A new law that went into effect July 1 created mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl trafficking. Under the law, people convicted of possessing more than 500 fentanyl pills will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. 

Both Dizard and Henifin remain in the Kootenai County jail.