Gabrielle Russon
Officials say 19 people are facing drug-related charges following an investigation into a drug trafficking organization running from Orange, Polk, Osceola and Hillsborough counties.
“Six pounds of fentanyl and 4 pounds of cocaine were seized in this operation. That’s a street value over $1.5 million,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said during a press conference. He detailed the operations to sneak into Florida fentanyl from California and Mexico and cocaine from Puerto Rico.
“We recovered nine firearms, and one of which was stolen, and $50,000 in cash,” Mina added
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and statewide prosecutors at the Attorney General’s Office partnered in the investigation.
So far, 17 of the 19 people have been arrested for charges that include trafficking fentanyl, trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to traffic, fentanyl and cocaine, officials said. If convicted, they face mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 15 to 25 years, officials explained Monday.
The law enforcement investigation was paid by the state through the SAFE Program, which helps fight against fentanyl.
“A lot of this work is not the glamorous stuff you see in TV and movies. It’s a lot of waiting around, watching, trying to build this case so that these folks never put drugs into our community again,” Mina said.
Last year in Orange County, there were nearly 200 overdose deaths tied to fentanyl and cocaine, officials said.
“Our administration, over the past few years, has made combating the fentanyl crisis a priority,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said during Monday’s press conference in Orange County. “We take this seriously. We’re going to continue to throw every resource and tool we have at combating the fentanyl crisis.”
Lee Massie, an Assistant Commissioner with the Florida Department of Enforcement, called the one-year investigation “the only way we’re going to get the cut head off the snake.”
