No fentanyl found in flyers left on Harris County Sheriff's Office vehicles

Hazardous material crews hepl investigate the scene where a fentanyl-laced flyer was found on the windshield of a Harris County Sheriff's Office vehicle Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Hazardous material crews hepl investigate the scene where a fentanyl-laced flyer was found on the windshield of a Harris County Sheriff's Office vehicle Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Photo: Jay R. Jordan Photo: Jay R. Jordan Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close No fentanyl found in flyers left on Harris County Sheriff's Office vehicles 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

Sheriff's deputies will evaluate whether they are using the "most reliable" drug testing kits after completed laboratory results negated initial findings that flyers placed on sheriff's office vehicles could be laced with fentanyl, a spokesman confirmed.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez's office on Friday announced the results of the laboratory tests, just days after a sergeant touched a flyer on her windshield and was subsequently hospitalized with fentanyl-like symptoms. Initial field tests determined that another flyer placed on a sheriff's office vehicle contained the sometimes-deadly opioid.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences tested 13 flyers – all promoting the same organization as the flyer found on the sergeant's car – as well as clothing items and blood and urine samples from the sergeant. Those tests came back from the laboratory as negative for the drug.

Spokesman Jason Spencer said the sheriff's office will begin looking into the testing kits, although he said officials don't intend to swap them out just yet.

"We just want to make sure we do the research and understand what's out there," Spencer said. "We're going to explore and make sure we're using the best possible."

The scare highlights just the latest problem with the drug field tests in Harris County. The Houston Chronicle reported in July 2016 that 298 people had been convicted of drug possession, even though complete lab tests later found no controlled substances in the samples tested at the scene.

All 298 people pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanors before the field samples had been tested in the county's forensic laboratory. Many of those people pleaded guilty based on the initial testing kits indicated the substance recovered at the scene was positive for drugs. Those test kits cannot be used in trial as evidence under Texas law.

Looking into the reliability of the sheriff's office's testing kits doesn't necessarily mean they will be changed out immediately or at all, especially if the office is already using the best ones available, Spencer said.

"We're not out there with a shopping list," he said.

The controvery began when the sergeant removed the flyer from her windshield on Tuesday. As she drove away, she started feeling certain symptoms associated with fentanyl, authorities said. She was released from the hospital later that day.

Around 15 to 20 flyers, promoting an organization called Targeted Justice, were found on cars near a Harris County Sheriff's Office building on Lockwood in the Second Ward, authorities previously said. After the field test came back with a positive result for fentanyl, the sheriff's office sent the remaining flyers to the county's lab.

"One sergeant who touched a flyer is receiving medical treatment," the sheriff's office said on Twitter Tuesday. "Call authorities if you see these flyers and DO NOT TOUCH."

The county lab results came back negative. It is unknown what caused the sergeant's symptoms, Spencer said.

The sheriff's office will notify other law enforcement agencies of the Forensic Institute's findings, the spokesman said.

The flyers promoted the organization Targeted Justice, which purports to be an advocacy group for "targeted individuals," or people who feel they are being mind-controlled or harassed by a range of government entities.

Targeted Justice took to Twitter on Wednesday and denied being involved with the incident.

"No one at [Targeted Justice] was in Houston passing out flyers," the group said in a statement, and expressed relief the sergeant didn't become ill from one of their fliers.

"Our board, executive team, and members are victims of a staggering range of human rights violations, and as such, we do not endorse any activity that would endanger or harm another human," a statement on the group's website reads. "In fact, we stand staunchly against cruelty, violence and injustice wherever it comes from, even and especially from a perversion of authority."

No people of interest were interviewed, and no one has been charged related to the flyers, according to the sheriff's office.

Stephen Tucker Paulsen contributed to this report.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com

Twitter.com/sam_kett