1 indicted for possession of nearly 100 grams of fentanyl

The Belknap County Grand Jury indicted one person accused of possessing large quantities of fentanyl with the intent to distribute it. 

Kevin Thibaudeau, 42, was indicted by the Grand Jury in March. 

According to Belknap County Sheriff’s Department records, deputies encountered Thibaudeau on the morning of July 1, in the woods off the Route 3 bypass, near the Belmont-Laconia line. 

Officers Devin Barlow and Brian Warburton conducted a park-walk-and-talk operation on the Belmont-Laconia line at 9:42 a.m., and, upon their arrival at an encampment, found Thibaudeau and another person “passed out on the nod” inside a tent. Officers saw a bag, which they suspected contained fentanyl, in plain view on a small end table. 

Thibaudeau apparently consented to a search, and officers found additional drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale. Those items were seized. The substance was tested positive onsite for fentanyl.

Once evidence collected was secured, Barlow and Warburton returned to the sheriff’s office. At about 11:30 a.m., officers placed the bag containing suspected fentanyl on the digital scale which they’d earlier seized, and it read 90.30 grams, though their report notes that scale is not certified.

Warburton used a mobile fentanyl preliminary field test kit to identify the contents of the bag — a brown, powdery substance. The test was positive, according to sheriff’s office documents.

A State of New Hampshire Department of Safety Forensic Laboratory drug analysis report released Jan. 6, confirmed about 89 grams of fentanyl, tested Dec. 30. A second plastic bag contained about 5 grams of the drug.

Thibaudeau is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, April 15, in Belknap County Superior Court. Thibaudeau is represented by attorney Alan Hassler of New Hampshire Public Defenders.

Hassler, on behalf of Thibaudeau, filed a notice objecting to admitting certain evidence, and requested the presence of a drug analyst at trial, on March 26, according to Superior Court records.

The objection pertains to the admission of the certificate of drug analysis and cites existing case law and Thibaudeau's constitutional rights to due process, a fair trial and confrontation of adverse witnesses. 

Thibaudeau has numerous other drug convictions across Belknap and Merrimack counties. He was featured as the New Hampshire Department of Corrections' Fugitive of the Week in October 2025, before Belknap County deputies located him. 

Deputies found Thibaudeau asleep in a tent in an encampment in the woods on Oct. 16. He was charged with violating probation and being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon. During that incident, officers found a pair of metal knuckles in his pockets.