Four Manatee County residents arrested on drug-related charges in Sarasota sting

Four Manatee County residents were among the 28 arrested during a month-long “Operation Spring Smack Down,” Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight announced during a press conference Friday.

The operation took place throughout March, aptly named after a nickname for heroin.

“The commonality in almost all these arrests is heroin,” Sheriff Knight said.

Sarasota resident Tasha Gruerio, 28; Bradenton residents Mark Suiter, 43, and Paul Mangual, 37; and Parrish resident Hayden Litz, 23, were the Manatee County residents among those arrested. All 28 arrestees collectively have 332 prior felony charges and 267 prior misdemeanor charges, according to the sheriff’s office. Half of them have spent time in prison, Sheriff Knight said.

Litz was pointed out by the sheriff’s office as a noteworthy arrest. On March 23, after deputies attempting to conduct a traffic stop on South Lockwood Ridge Road, Litz lead law enforcement on a chase, going northbound at 70 to 80 mph, according to the probable cause affidavit. He later fled on foot near the intersection of Grove Street and South Shade Avenue, but was eventually taken into custody.

The 23-year-old was found with 3.3 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of methamphetamine and two Clonazepam pills. Inside his car, law enforcement found a Winchester .12-gauge shotgun with six shotgun shells inside, 73 more shotgun shells, a safe with 0.2 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, gloves and a mask. He has previous convictions for burglary and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.

During another investigation that ran alongside “Operation Spring Smack Down,” detectives purchased what they thought was oxycodone. It turned out to be pressed fentanyl, which is 100 times more potent than morphine.

The news conference wasn’t held just to expose the results of the operation. Sheriff Knight took the time to the details of how the opioid epidemic has impacted Sarasota, as heroin-related overdose deaths have more than quadrupled in the U.S. between 2000 and 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Sarasota deputies have been equipped with naloxone, the opioid antidote that can help reverse an overdose, which was used in 32 overdoses that the sheriff’s office responded to in March. In the same time period in 2016, the sheriff’s office responded to only 10 overdoses.

Since the beginning of the year, the sheriff’s office has investigated 71 heroin-related overdoses and 14 suspected overdose deaths. Sheriff Knight added that deputies use the opportunity after an overdose to educate drug users and their families, facilitating addiction recovery services. In the Sarasota County Jail, opiate dependency medication is provided.

“This is a social issue that we won’t arrest our way out of right now,” he said. A concerted effort between the community and law enforcement is necessary, he added.

Sheriff Knight said that the county has a high quality of life, with its high home values, tourist-magnet beaches and relatively low crime.

“To know this is going on in our backyard is difficult,” he said.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Four Manatee County residents arrested on drug-related charges in Sarasota sting."