Palm Coast-area drug dealer sentenced following Operation Summer Slammer investigation

Sheriff Rick Staly says the investigation exposed a local business owner who was secretly dealing narcotics in Flagler County.


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  • | 1:15 p.m. May 20, 2026
  • Palm Coast Observer
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 Leonard Fries Jr., a target of Operation: Summer Slammer who was arrested twice in 2025 following extensive investigations by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit, has been convicted and sentenced.

On Feb. 18, Fries plead no contest to trafficking in cocaine, sale of cocaine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, and possession of a Schedule I or III substance with intent to sell. On May 19, following his plea agreement, Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols adjudicated him guilty and sentenced him to 4 1/2 years in state prison.

“This guy put on a façade as a reputable business owner and law enforcement supporter but detectives and prosecutors proved that it was an act,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “If you’re peddling poison in Flagler County, no matter how good of an act you put on to hide your drug dealing, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will find you and arrest you. If you don’t change your ways, I suggest getting out of Flagler County or you will end up joining Lenny Fries in prison. I commend our SIU team for getting this poison peddler off the street and into prison where he belongs.”

Prior to his plea agreement, Fries faced 13 total charges. He was originally arrested on May 16, 2025, during a narcotics-related search warrant at his residence, then arrested again on additional charges on Aug. 22, 2025, after further investigation.

Fries is currently being held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility awaiting transfer to the Florida Department of Corrections.

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