MS Coast Motel 6 stakeout leads to 1,000 fentanyl-laced pills. 2 men are headed to prison
Two men who pleaded guilty this year in a case that involved the trafficking of 1,000 fentanyl-laced pills from Louisiana to Bay St. Louis are headed to prison after a sentencing in federal court this week.
Kolby Zu Sims, 21, of Bay St. Louis will spend more than 4 years in federal prison. Santana Phillipe Elzy, 23, of Covington will spend 7 years in prison. Both pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
Each faced charges related to the trafficking counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl — a synthetic opioid far stronger than morphine that has led to thousands of overdose deaths across the country.
The group was arrested in August 2023 after the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration heard a complaint of drug trafficking at the Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis. Agents watched the Mississippi Coast motel and saw a red Toyota Camry arrive to pick up two people suspected of selling drugs, court records show.
Agents followed the car across the Mississippi-Louisiana state line. They determined that the Bay St. Louis residents drove to a Walmart in Louisiana to buy the laced pills from Elzy, who agents believed to be the dealer.
Agents tailed the car back to Mississippi and conducted a traffic stop.
Sims, who was inside the Camry, helped pay for 1,000 fentanyl-laced pills the group planned to bring to Mississippi and sell, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi said.
He pleaded guilty in March to interstate travel in furtherance of drug trafficking. Elzy pleaded that same month to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Three other Bay St. Louis residents were inside the Camry, according to court records. Emma Stoute was sentenced in March to nearly 5 years in prison. Christopher Fricke will spend 5 years in prison and Dakari Sykes has not yet been sentenced, according to court records.
