Several pieces of crack cocaine were found stuffed inside a chair at a Prince George’s County fire station, a county police spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
The county fire department is investigating the discovery, but no arrests have been made, officials said.
Paramedics at the county’s Fire/EMS Station 847 in Fort Washington discovered the crack when a plastic bag sticking out from a frayed edge on the aging chair caught their eye, department spokesman Mark Brady said. Upon pulling the bag out, they saw several pieces of what appeared to be crack cocaine stuffed inside smaller bags. The chair was in an office that’s also a common hangout for on-duty staff.
The paramedics immediately alerted their supervisor and county police, who arrived with a narcotics-sniffing dog and drug field test equipment.
Field tests found that the substance tested positive as crack. After being led through the entire station, the only spot the dog smelled drugs was on the chair, Brady said.
Further lab tests are expected to reveal the age of the drug and may also provide fingerprints that could help identify the owner. The on-duty staffers volunteered for drug testing, and the department took them up on the offer. Results are still pending.
The station is composed mostly of a professional staff, with a few volunteers.
Fire department investigators have uncovered no evidence that the crack belonged to any of the personnel who work at the station, Brady said.
The chair did not start its life as county office furniture at the station; it was brought to the station from the county’s surplus storage, and investigators are trying to determine where it was before that.
It could have come from any number of county agencies, Brady said.
