Drug Charges Lead to Prison Sentence

Richard Renney was sentenced to 66 months in prison as a Habitual Felony Offender for one count each of Trafficking in Methamphetamine and Possession of Heroin.

In November of 2018 a minivan pulled into a gas station in North Fort Myers. Deputies with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office were nearby and recognized the driver. The deputies knew the man, Benny Barnes, did not have a valid driver’s license. The deputies walked up to the minivan to speak to him and saw a marijuana blunt in plain view between the driver and passenger seats of the vehicle. Renny was in the passenger seat.

The vehicle was then searched and deputies located a cigarette box on the floor between the two seats containing methamphetamine. Barnes was searched and deputies found synthetic marijuana in his pocket. Renney was searched and deputies found a methamphetamine rock the size of a baseball wrapped up in his hat. Renney then admitted that all of the methamphetamine located in the vehicle was his. Both defendants were placed under arrest and put in the back of the patrol car.

Prior to leaving the scene for the jail, deputies saw Renney stomping something into the carpet of their vehicle. The deputies removed Renney from the car and searched him again. They found a ball of heroin in between the cheeks of his buttocks. The substance he was stomping into the carpet was also heroin. Renney had a total of 18.9 grams of methamphetamine and 7.6 grams of heroin in his possession.

Barnes was sentenced previously for Driving While License Suspended, Possession of Synthetic Marijuana and Possession of Marijuana under 20 grams. Assistant State Attorney Natalie Heiderscheit prosecuted the case.

Samantha Syoen
Communications Director
State Attorney’s Office
ssyoen@sao20.org
239-533-1125