TAMPA -- Local and state law enforcement officials jointly announced the arrests of 25 people in a fentanyl investigation that spanned Tampa Bay.
According to FDLE, agents began investigating suspect Jonathan Rivera and discovered a connection to a drug organization. They also spotted connections to Clearwater and Tampa Police Department investigations. Agencies applied for a SAFE grant and joined forces, leading to 28 arrest warrants and several drug seizures. On September 5th and 6th, officers served 13 search warrants in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Three suspects are still loose.
Clearwater police chief Eric Gandy says the head of his narcotics unit pressed him to seek funding and expand an existing investigation. The chief turned him down twice before agreeing the third time. Gandy says the drug ring was using pill presses indiscriminately, meaning fentanyl could be laced, accidentally or deliberately, into pills being sold as other drugs. "Some kid is going to think they're buying an Adderall or ecstasy pill and die as a result," Gandy told reporters.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody says detectives seized 114 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill 57,000 people, or as Moody expressed it, more people than live in her hometown of Plant City. Detectives also seized more than three pounds of cocaine, one pound of meth, and 8800 meth pills. They also confiscated cash, 13 firearms, and 250 pounds of ingredients used to make the pills. There was enough to make some half a million pills.
Gandy says this was called "Operation One Stop Shop" because that's what it appears the drug operation was trying to offer: a wide variety of drugs in one place.
Moody and FDLE Assistant Commissioner Lee Massie says that the SAFE program has resulted in more than 100 cases and 700 arrests, and the removal of more than 140 pounds of fentanyl. Moody says the state is fighting an uphill battle, blaming the Biden administration's border and migration policies.
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