- April 15, 2024
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Volusia County Sheriff's Office deputies have arrested 74 people on drug charges as part of Operation Spring Cleaning, a multi-agency effort hosted by the Florida Sheriff’s Association to remove drugs and drug dealers from communities.
The seven-month investigation began Oct. 1, 2017, involved 27 agencies and ended April 30. Statewide, law enforcement officers arrested 4,988 people and seized 27,364 pounds of illegal drugs — more than 13.5 tons — and 1,679 guns.
"The Florida sheriffs have zero tolerance when it comes to drug sales," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during a May 1 joint press conference with Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and Putnam County Sheriff Gator DeLoach at the Flagler County Sheriff's Operations Center. "And this is only one step of where we're going with this. Law enforcement's job is to crack down on dealers; law enforcement's job is to crack down on supply." Arresting dealers, Chitwood added as he gestured toward a board covered with the mug shots of arrested suspects, is "is not about the people you see on this poster. It's about their victims."
In Volusia County, deputies seized approximately 2,600 grams of cocaine, 3,100 grams of heroin, 1,400 grams of opioid pills and 54 firearms. In Flagler County, deputies arrested 45 people and seized 4,753 grams of controlled substances and 14 firearms. In Putnam County, deputies arrested 41 people and seized 5,337 grams of controlled substances and 11 firearms.
"Through joint operations such as this, the Florida sheriffs continue to make our great state a safer place to live and raise a family," DeLoach said. "The possession, sale and manufacture of drugs erode the communities in which we live. And rest assured, if you sell or manufacture drugs in Putnam County or anywhere in the state of Florida — I think I can speak for all my fellow sheriffs — we're coming after you."
Among the 74 people arrested in Volusia County, Chitwood said, was a group that was the largest distributor for heroin and fentanyl in the county. That ring, he said, "was responsible for dealing out death."
Getting those people in jail, he said, is about getting justice for dealers' victims.
"It's about the 108 people that overdosed and died last year in Volusia County," Chitwood said. "It's about the 800-plus people who overdosed and survived. It's about giving them justice; it's about trying to get them to the treatment that they need."
The opiod crisis, he said, "is unlike any other crisis. You know, cocaine, marijuana — there's a success rate there with treatment. With opioids, we're not seeing that success rate. We're seeing people that are going into rehab 10, 15, 20 times, and can't beat this. And in the meantime you have these scumbags that are out there living off the misery that happens to be the habit that these victims have."
Statewide, according to a news release from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, medical examiners reported that 704 people died of Fentanyl-related overdoses in the first half of 2016. Those deaths led the Florida Legislature to enact increased penalties for drug dealers and traffickers though House Bill 477.
"I think one of the takeaways from this operation ... among the sheriffs is: Drug dealers, there are no boundaries," Staly said. "We're going to come after you no matter if you're selling your poison in Volusia, Putnam, Jacksonville or Key West. We all work together, and we're going to go after you and fill up our jails."
