Undercover buys lead to arrests or pending charges for 75 suspected drug dealers

Undercover drug buys have led to the arrest or pending charges against 75 suspected drug dealers in Manatee County, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which has multiple ongoing investigations in an effort to diminish the supply of heroin, fentanyl and other opioids responsible for the ongoing overdose epidemic.

With the heroin epidemic continuing to plague Manatee County — considered the epicenter of the epidemic statewide — the sheriff’s office wants the public to know it is going after dealers and what the outcome of those efforts has been so far, according to spokesman Dave Bristow.

Since Jan. 1, detectives with the sheriff’s office’s Special Investigation Division have focused on going after suspects who are dealing, trafficking or distributing heroin, fentanyl and other narcotics. As a result of multiple investigations that have involved undercover buys, detectives have been able to build cases against 75 people.

Of those 75 suspects, detectives have been unable to find several for whom they have arrest warrants.

Detectives have seized about 7,939 grams of cocaine; 697 grams of heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil; 38,465 grams of marijuana; 1 gram of methadone; 3,258 grams of methamphetamine; 73 grams of rock cocaine; 58 grams of hydrocodone; 139 grams of Xanax; 2 grams of Ecstasy; 5 grams of Oxycodone; and 131 grams of other prescription pills.

“We have been working very diligently for months to try get these dealers off the streets, the dealers responsible selling fentanyl and killing people,” Sheriff Rick Wells said. “We continue to do whatever we can do. We don’t know the type of impact this is going have on the overdoses we see in the county.”

The sheriff’s office has ongoing investigations, and Wells says more arrests are likely.

“Our detectives have worked extremely hard, and I’m very proud of them,” Wells said.

Detectives have been tasked with identifying those dealers who are selling the drugs responsible for users overdosing.

Undercover narcotics investigations tend to be lengthy investigations, the sheriff said, because it takes time for detectives to build probable cause for an arrest to be made.

“We continue to hold those selling fentanyl accountable,” Wells said. “These drug dealers don’t seem to care that they’re killing people.”

And while the sheriff’s office is not focusing on users in these investigations, when in contact with users, deputies and detectives are providing addicts with the resources available so they can get the help they need, he says. The Marchman Act is also being used when possible to involuntary hold those who overdose but are revived by Narcan in order to help get them stabilized and evaluated for treatment.

This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Undercover buys lead to arrests or pending charges for 75 suspected drug dealers."