Baby Yoda doll was full of fentanyl pills disguised as painkillers, Tennessee cops say

A Michigan man accused of trying to sell fentanyl pills found hidden inside a popular Star Wars toy is back in jail on drug charges, Tennessee authorities say.

Zave Garry, 34, was arrested Aug. 27 on charges of possession of Schedule II and Schedule VI drugs, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. Garry, who is from Detroit, also faces a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Deputies said he was found with 176 fentanyl pills “pressed and stamped” to look like 30 mg tablets of Roxicodone, a brand name of the painkiller oxycodone. The drugs were found wrapped in clear baggies and stashed inside a Baby Yoda doll, seen in photos posted on the department’s Facebook page.

“These non-pharmaceutically produced pills are a true danger to the user due in part to inconsistent production methods along with the inherent dangers of Fentanyl,” Rutherford County Sheriff’s Capt. Britt Reed said in a statement.

The synthetic opioid is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is typically prescribed to treat severe pain, especially in cancer patients.

More recent fentanyl-related incidents, including overdoses and deaths, have been linked to illegally made fentanyl, the public health agency said.

Garry was out on bond from a similar offense in nearby Coffee County, where he was found with 157 of the same pills two weeks before, according to Reed. He was allegedly linked to an “intercepted shipment of approximately 1,000 pills” authorities said he intended to sell in the area.

Garry’s bond was raised to $150,000, and his first court hearing is set for Sept. 7, authorities said.

Rutherford County is about 40 miles southeast of Nashville.

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