Breaking Bad Fan Who Watched the Finale With the Cast Is Now Facing Felony Drug Charges

Breaking Bad

Ryan Carroll, a 28-year-old Floridian who won the opportunity to attend a Breaking Bad series finale party with the show’s cast in September, has been arrested in San Carlos Park on felony drug charges. “It’s unclear from an online booking report what kind of drugs Carroll is accused of possessing, and local authorities are keeping tight-lipped about their ‘investigation of significance,'” the Naples Daily News writes. Before being flown to L.A. for the finale event, Carroll told the same newspaper that Breaking Bad was “highly addicting, just like the meth they make.”

The contest Carroll won was a charity effort spearheaded by Aaron Paul and his wife, Lauren Parsekian, for their anti-bullying organization The Kind Campaign. About $1.5 million was raised, so there’s some balance to the force, maybe? It’s a little awkward to look back on now, though, given the circumstances — the contest promised that “you and a friend will ‘cook’ with Aaron Paul and other cast members before watching the Breaking Bad finale together,” and that Paul would pick the winner up at the airport. What was that ride like, guys? Something tells me Carroll would’ve been interested in a lot more than just hearing Jesse Pinkman call him a bitch in real life, asking things like “did the chili pepper really add that nice of a kick? and “look at me — I could’ve taken Tuco, right, bro?”

The specifics of Carroll’s arrest, per the Daily News, are “felony charges of possession of a synthetic narcotic with intent to sell and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription,” as well as “a misdemeanor charge of keeping a shop or vehicle for dangerous drugs.” Carroll was arrested in tandem with two other man, 33-year-old Benjamin Scott Smith and 35-year-old James Lee Allen, who face the same felony charges. Neighbors told the paper that Carroll was a renter who moved in less than a year ago; no one had really made his acquaintance, and it was hard not to notice the vehicles coming and going pretty much constantly, and now you’re picturing those classic time-lapse footage scenes from Breaking Bad. “You knew something was up,” said Carroll’s next-door neighbor. “They either had a very successful business, or they were up to something they shouldn’t be. Every day, FedEx deliveries.”

Another one of Carroll’s neighbors told the Daily News, “It’s just kind of mind-boggling to think stuff like that can happen right next to you. We still don’t even know what was going on.” Which is exactly what Walter White’s neighbor Carol probably told local reporters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after Heisenberg made headlines in Vince Gilligan’s alternate universe.

Filed Under: Breaking Bad