Sheriff Grady Judd stood before a cluster of microphones Friday and announced the largest single seizure of fentanyl in Polk County history — 14 kilograms (30.9 pounds) with a street value of $3.5 million — enough to kill about 7 million people.
It was a shocking announcement, but not entirely unfamiliar. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
At a similar news conference on Jan. 9, Judd announced that a multi-agency operation had seized 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl — enough to kill 1.75 million people. Go back a few more months to Oct. 31, and it was 10 kilograms — enough to kill about 5 million people.
PCSO detectives have been working with other members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force to fight the influx of fentanyl into Polk County and surrounding areas. But despite the huge seizures and all the lives likely saved as a result, the potent drug is still taking a heavy toll on our community.
Local lives lost
Florida District 10 Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson knows what a fentanyl overdose looks like — he should after seeing 78 of them last year, almost all from the illegal variety of the drug.
Walking up to the metal exam table, the first thing he will often notice is a bubbling foam coming out of the deceased’s nose and mouth.
“Same kind of foam that we would see with drowning because it’s very similar,” Nelson said Thursday evening, explaining that the heart keeps pumping, but a person’s breathing slows down so fluid accumulates in the lungs and brain. In addition, the bladder is usually full.
“You’re drowning in your own fluids with a narcotic overdose,” Nelson added.
Statistics provided by Nelson’s office shows the number of Polk County deaths related to fentanyl have skyrocketed over the past decade, going from one in 2014 to 118 in 2022, before dropping somewhat last year.
In many cases, those who overdosed may not have known they were using fentanyl. A 2022 report by the Florida Department of Health noted that fentanyl is sometimes added to other illicit drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and counterfeit prescriptions.
“Individuals may not be aware that these illicit substances contain fentanyl and can be fatal,” the report stated.
A suspiciously heavy Huggies box
Judd praised his undercover detectives Friday morning as he held up the pictures of four people arrested in the most recent sting — Sergio Garcia, 52; his wife, Maria Guadalupe Garcia, 48; Maria Machuca-Alderete, 29, and Pedro Rodriguez-Correa, 31.
He said those arrested are connected to a Mexican drug trafficking organization operating in several states including Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.
“Since 2018, more than a quarter of a million people have died as a result of this horrible drug coming to us through the border,” Judd said. “Now I want you to think about that for a second. If a quarter million people in this country were dying any other way, there would be major attention to that. Well, everyone that’s died is someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, relative mom or dad.”
According to the Florida Department of Health’s website, fentanyl is so potent that “as little as two milligrams, about the size of 5 grains of salt, can be fatal.”
Judd said his agency has seized enough fentanyl since January 2023 to kill every man, woman and child in the state of Florida.
“That’s insane,” he said.
Judd said Maria Garcia, 48, sold the drugs, wrapped up as bricks, storing them in a Huggies diaper box. The sheriff said the sale was made to a PCSO undercover detective and Machuca-Alderete, who was supplied with $61,000 in cash to make the initial purchase. It happened at a house in Eagle Lake.
Judd added that Machuca-Alderete showed up to the drug deal with her 6-year-old child in tow, who was placed in DCF custody after Machuca-Alderete was arrested.
A silver Toyota Tundra with a Texas license plate arrived at the undercover location and Guadalupe Garcia got out. She met with Machuca-Alderete and provided her with the 11 brick-style packages inside the diaper box.
“Maria Guadalupe said she didn’t know anything about fentanyl — she was just delivering this box of Huggies from California,” Judd said. “Now, when’s the last time that you picked up a box of Huggies that weighed 27 pounds? And that’s the kind of illusion that they want to create (that) this is not dangerous. But it’s killing people. So Maria, we don’t have any Huggies in the county jail, but we have you there and that’s where you’re going to stay until our state attorney and his prosecutors locks you up for a very long time.”
The affidavit noted that Machuca-Alderete was dropped off at the location by Rodriguez-Correa, who was also arrested.
“Once Machuca entered the residence, Pedro Rodriguez left the area, circulating the undercover location,” the affidavit reads. “This tactic is used by narcotic traffickers to attempt to conceal other participants’ involvement, distancing themselves from the actual transaction.”
The Garcias’ address is listed in court documents as Winchester, California. Judd said Sergio Garcia served 23 years in the U.S. military, first with the Marines and retiring as a staff sergeant in the Army. His wife also claimed to be retired military, but detectives had not found proof of that by the time of the press conference.
The sheriff added that Machuca-Alderete and Rodriguez-Correa were illegal immigrants who came through the Mexican border. In fact, he said Machuca-Alderete was turned away several times trying to enter the U.S. until she finally succeeded in crossing the border.
Judd was joined Friday morning by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, State Attorney Brian Haas, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Assistant Commissioner Lee Massie and A. J. Collazo, executive director of the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
Haas said this week’s drug deal happened five minutes from his own home.
“The first thing I always think about is the end user, the intended person who will eventually use these drugs,” Haas said. “And it’s our kids, our teenagers, our folks who are here, just trying to go about their daily lives and these drug pushers are trying to get them so they can expand their business. And that’s where the reality is here. And I think about the danger of these drugs coming into our community and all the things that come with the violence and the guns and all the threats.”
The group blamed the worsening fentanyl crisis on President Joe Biden’s border policies because a lot of the illegal fentanyl is coming from Mexico.
Tracking fentanyl from motels to microwaves
Judd said the investigation that lead to this week’s arrest began in August, when two kilograms of fentanyl were delivered from a trafficker based in Mexico to undercover detectives. A second delivery was coordinated for an in-person transaction at a motel in Lakeland on April 5 for one kilogram of fentanyl.
The success of the transaction in Lakeland led to another delivery; the trafficking organization agreed to ship eleven more kilograms of fentanyl to Polk County.
The PCSO has also made other arrests of fentanyl sellers.
On August 16, 2023, PCSO Detectives searched a room at the Relax Inn on Lakeland Hills Boulevard, belonging to Vonterra Grimsely, 51. They found a white substance in three baggies that tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, along with Delta-9 THC.
An affidavit shows he allowed Salina Bradley into the room so she could “cool off from the heat.” She told detectives that she smoked methamphetamine from the clear glass pipe, also found in the room and purchased the meth from Grimsley.
He denied being a drug dealer. Both were arrested. Grimsley was charged with sale of fentanyl, a second-degree felony, possession of a structure or vehicle known to sell drugs, possession cannabis, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia. He has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1992.
Grimsley failed to show up for a September court date and is now wanted on felony charges.
June 13, 2023, a detective with the HIDTA task force conducted an undercover investigation into “suspected fentanyl dealer, Danielle Dupree,” 32.
The detective arranged to buy $50 worth of fentanyl from Dupree, but when she arrived, she had only $20 worth.
“This is all I have left,” she said.
A week later detectives arrested her. She pleaded no contest and was found guilty in December by Judge Wayne Durden of sale of fentanyl. She was sentenced to time served in the county jail.
In March, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Derrail Kenyon Snell, 41, of Wauchula, on felony charges including trafficking fentanyl.
FDLE said Snell attempted to ship himself a microwave with 20,000 fentanyl pills packed inside.
Once he was in custody, investigators located a storage unit key in Snell’s possession and FDLE agents, Hardee County Sheriff’s detectives and PCSO K-9 detectives searched the unit and found an additional 2,000 fentanyl pills, an AR-15 rifle, two handguns, ammunition and $16,000 in cash.
Snell was booked into the Highlands County Jail on no bond. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney based in Bartow.
Dealer charged with murder after overdose
At 7 p.m. on January 9, 2020, Trent William Hart. Jr., 42, and his girlfriend checked into room 138 of the Rodeway Inn and Suites on Cypress Gardens Blvd. in Winter Haven. Seven and a half hours later, he was dead.
An arrest affidavit shows Hart’s girlfriend, whose name has been redacted from the document, called Gary Scott, Jr., 45 minutes after they got to their room and asked to buy some heroin from Scott. She ordered three small bags, paying $60 — $40 for the drugs and $20 for delivery. According to hotel security camera footage, Scott (also known as “Foo”) showed up about 10 minutes later, walked into their hotel room and left one minute later.
The woman told detectives “that when the suspect entered the hotel room he provided her with the heroin and stated to ‘try on a little bit’ of the heroin and be careful,” the affidavit shows.
The woman told a PCSO detective that she shared one bag of heroin with Hart, both of them snorting the white powder before blacking out.
“When she woke up, she found herself sitting on the floor next to the entertainment center with the victim laying on top of her,” the affidavit reads. “The witness advised the victim was unresponsive so she called 911.”
Parademics arrived and Hart was declared dead on the scene at 2:17 a.m.
The next day, an undercover detective went with the girlfriend to a controlled drug buy a block from Scott’s Beach Drive home in Winter Haven and she bought two bags of heroin from him, which both tested positive for fentanyl. A bag of drugs — identical to the bags in the controlled purchase from Scott — was found on Hart during the autopsy and also tested positive for fentanyl.
Records with the Polk County Clerk of Court show Scott was arrested seven months prior to Hart’s death on charges of trafficking in heroin, but was out on bond when Hart died. An affidavit in that unrelated case shows that Scott admitted to selling heroin.
Scott, now 33, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He remains in the Polk County Jail awaiting trial. He has a status hearing on May 17.
Deaths declined last year
In 2022, Polk County saw 117 fentanyl-related deaths. Last year, that number dropped to 78. It’s too soon to say if law enforcement efforts, education campaigns or overdose-reversing medications are making the difference, but local officials are attacking the problem on many fronts.
Lakeland Police records show that arrests for either possession of fentanyl, possession with intent to sell or selling fentanyl have increased exponentially. In 2017, LPD officers made their first four arrests in fentanyl-related cases. In 2023, that number shot up to 41. In January through March of this year, there have been 14 arrests.
The sheriff’s office data shows that in 2023, that agency made 111 arrests for some form of possession of fentanyl, 22 of which were for trafficking amounts. In 2020, there were 12 arrests for possession and one for trafficking.
InnerAct Alliance, a Polk County non-profit dedicated to reducing the abuse and underage use of harmful substances and with involvement in other risky behaviors, announced this week that it is partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and its “One Pill Can Kill” public safety awareness campaign.
“Talking about the dangers of fentanyl and supporting youth not to use illegal drugs is the best prevention,” said InnerAct Director Angie Ellison. “Even if you believe your child would never touch a drug of any kind, talk with them about the dangers of experimentation. Knowledge saves lives!”
In March 2023, a couple renting an Air B&B in South Florida found their 19-month-old dead after the child found a fentanyl pill left behind by a previous renter. The parents are now suing the home’s owner and the previous renter.
On May 31, an 8-month-old Sarasota girl died of a fentanyl overdose and her parents were charged with manslaughter.
Deputies have saved 23 lives with nasal spray
Through its Helping Emergency Responders Obtain Support (HELPS) program, almost 600,000 free doses of naloxone have been provided to more than 500 emergency response agencies in Florida since 2018.
Naloxone, sold under the brand name NARCAN, is a nasal spray designed to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It costs $45 and is available at Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Target and on Amazon.
The FDOH says that an overdose involving fentanyl is similar to overdoses of other opioids, but it can begin much faster and stronger than a typical opioid overdose. Overdose signs include:
- Small, constricted “pinpoint pupils.”
- Falling asleep or losing consciousness.
- Slow, weak, or not breathing.
- Choking or gurgling sounds.
- Limp body.
- Cold and/or clammy skin.
- And discolored skin, especially lips and nails.
If you are dealing with someone you think is having a drug overdose, call 911 Immediately, administer naloxone if available, try to keep the person awake and breathing, lay the person on their side to prevent choking and stay with the person until emergency assistance arrives.
Judd said that while a lot of people have died of a fentanyl overdose in Polk County, his deputies have saved 23 people with NARCAN by administering the medication quickly enough.
‘You can’t arrest your way out of addiction’
Legal fentanyl was created in the 1950s and continues to be prescribed. It comes in various forms, including pills, lozenges, sublingual and nasal sprays, patches and injectible liquid.
Nelson, the medical examiner, said before the onslaught of illegal fentanyl, addicts used to get their high from legal fentanyl patches, which were prescribed to patients for pain following surgery.
“We would see people’s bodies covered in patches,” Nelson said. “They would not take off one patch and throw it away. They would just add patches to it. So they would get the very last little bit of fentanyl out of those patches and you know, 13, 14, 15 patches of fentanyl all over their body.”
While Nelson said law enforcement removing traffickers is a positive move, it’s not the solution.
“The thing is that addiction is really powerful,” Nelson said. “And you’re not going to be able to arrest your way out of addiction. And we are not spending enough money on treatment. There are not enough psychologists, psychiatrists, addiction treatment people for all the addiction that there is.”
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