Calvin Wick

Audrey Biggica

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Powell police arrested two residents on Saturday afternoon after allegedly catching them in the middle of a drug transaction with other people.

Calvin A. Wick, 32, and Audrey K. Biggica, 29, are each facing a felony charge in connection with the incident. 

Wick is charged with delivering meth or possessing it with intent to deliver, with prosecutors alleging he provided Biggica with a syringe loaded with the drug in liquid form; he also faces a misdemeanor count of possessing a small amount of meth. As for Biggica, she’s charged with a felony count of possessing more than 0.3 grams of meth in liquid form.

They both remained in jail on Wednesday, with bail set at $10,000 cash.

Suspicious parking

Wick and Biggica had parked in the Maverik gas station’s parking lot and raised a manager’s suspicions when another woman made a couple trips to their vehicle from the nearby Travelodge motel, charging documents say. Around 3:30 p.m. — after the pair had been parked in the lot for roughly an hour-and-a-half — the Maverik manager called police.

When officers arrived, Wick initially said he was on his way to work and giving Biggica a ride, but he was unable to say where he worked, Officer Kevin Bennett wrote in an affidavit. Biggica, meanwhile, reportedly said that she was using Maverik’s WiFi, but Bennett noticed a piece of burnt foil on the floor near her leg.

The officer then asked the two to get out of the black Ford Expedition and had his drug detection K9, Freya, sniff the outside of the SUV. As Freya alerted to the scent of narcotics on the front driver’s side, Wick mentioned that he’d previously had dogs in the vehicle, but “I informed Calvin [Wick] that my narcotic detection K9 does not alert to the odor of dogs[,] only narcotics,” Bennett wrote.

In a subsequent search of the SUV, officers reportedly found multiple needles and burnt foils, the affidavit says. Wick allegedly told police that the foils might test positive for meth or fentanyl, while another container might have held marijuana.

Most significantly, a syringe loaded with 28 milliliters of liquid was found in Biggica’s purse.

“[S]he advised that she believed it was meth but was unsure,” Bennett wrote, as Biggica claimed that Wick had loaded the needle. (Wick reportedly denied knowing anything about it.)

As police continued to work the scene, the affidavit alleges that Wick volunteered that he and Biggica “had come to buy fentanyl” from two people staying in a nearby room at the Travelodge, the affidavit says. Officers later obtained a warrant to search that room and found “evidence [indicative] of narcotics use,” the Powell Police Department said in a Facebook post. As of Wednesday, those individuals had not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but the department said its investigation is ongoing.

Setting bond

In arguing for $10,000 bonds for Wick and Biggica on Monday, Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric cited past criminal convictions and the dangerousness of the drugs involved. While authorities believe the syringe contains liquid meth, “they had come to buy fentanyl,” Skoric said, “and so we don’t know what’s … exactly in that syringe at this point.”

Whether fentanyl or meth, “that puts a lot of people in danger, not only themselves, but other individuals, including law enforcement,” he said.

For her part, Biggica acknowledged having a history of drug abuse, but said she’d been doing well until the death of her infant child.

“I spiraled out of control, and I know that that's not an excuse or anything, but I just want to get my life back,” Biggica said. She asked for a lower bond so that she could potentially enter a treatment program or drug court. “And I feel like all the jail time that I’m going to be doing is not going to help me get my life back,” she said, “but that’s just my personal opinion.”

When it was his turn to address bond, Wick also expressed a desire to enter drug treatment.

“I need help,” he said. “I want help.”

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah indicated that he would consider lowering their bonds and the defendants to attend treatment in the future, but for the time being, he adopted Skoric’s $10,000 recommendations.

“The word fentanyl causes me great alarm,” Darrah said at one point. “It's a bad deal.”

Preliminary hearings for Wick and Biggica are tentatively set for Sept. 24.