WINTER HAVEN -- Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has announced the largest fentanyl seizure in his jurisdiction's history.
Judd was flanked by several state and local officials, including two state attorneys and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, as he announced the arrest of three suspected dealers in a crackdown on a fentanyl ring believed to be tied to Mexico's infamous Sinaloa cartel.
Judd says undercover deputies made several buys from Juan Manuel Gutierrez, Juan Gutierrez Jr. and Ruperto Rocha, totaling some ten kilos of fentanyl. In fact, Judd says, their detectives were able to make a down payment, because the dealers were "floating" the dope (selling on credit).
According to the sheriff, the Sinaloa cartel was moving the fentanyl across the border to Compton, California, where it was packaged for shipment to Florida. "It was coming here 'Straight Outta Compton'," Judd said. He said his detectives tracked a suspect's phone to a house in that city and asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff to knock on the door and make an arrest. Judd says he was told the L.A. Sheriff only stops drug dealers on the streets, no knocking on doors. "We now have another example of why the felons... and dope smugglers own California."
Each of the three men faces decades in prison if convicted, under new anti-fentanyl laws passed by the Florida Legislature. The legislature's SAFE (State Assistance to Fentanyl Eradication) grant helped pay for the investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, Hillsborough Sheriff's Office and federal Department of Homeland Security also helped in the investigation.
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