‘Major pill dealer’ and Bradenton business owner faces drug trafficking charges, cops say

A Bradenton business owner is facing multiple drug trafficking charges after Manatee County Sheriff’s Office investigators found pills and other drugs in his car and home.

Deputies stopped John Mark Hutson, 43, of Bradenton, on June 1 after undercover officers saw him dealing drugs, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Court records show investigators saw Hutson meet a man at the Winn-Dixie in the 1000 block of 53rd Avenue East and sold him pills. They also saw Hutson go into Sam’s Club on 30th Street East, where he was allegedly dropping off and picking up prescriptions.

A sheriff’s office K9 alerted on his Toyota Camry and deputies found more than 1,000 pills inside during a search, according to the sheriff’s office and court records. That day, Hutson was charged with trafficking in hydrocodone, trafficking in oxycodone and trafficking in hydromorphone.

Hutson is the registered owner of Professional Touch Cleaners in the 1500 block of 53rd Avenue East in Bradenton, according to the sheriff’s office. Twice, Hutson had an undercover officer come to Professional Touch Cleaners for drug transactions, court records showed.

As deputies continued their investigation, it was determined that Hutson was “a major pill dealer,” according to the sheriff’s office, and a search warrant for his home was obtained. Meanwhile, Hutson was released on bond for the previous charges.

After investigators searched Hutson’s Bradenton home in the 5300 block of 11th Street Circle East, warrants for his arrest were obtained and he was taken into custody at his business on July 11, according to the sheriff’s office.

Inside the home, investigators found cocaine, “two freshly made crack cocaine ‘cookies,’ ” a “large bag” of marijuana, THC edibles and lollipops, along with about $50,000 in cash.

Deputies recorded finding 801.4 grams of cocaine, 3,589.9 grams of marijuana, 12.5 grams of methadone, 16.7 grams of amphetamine and 174 strips of Suboxone, along with several other drugs.

His additional charges included trafficking in cocaine and amphetamine; possession of methadone, methamphetamine, MDMA, alprazolam, buprenorphine, marijuana, Suboxone and tramadol; possession of a structure for purposes of trafficking in controlled substances; and possession of a conveyance for purposes of trafficking in controlled substances.

A 2006 white Ford Ecoline van was at his home when the search warrant was performed, and a subsequent search of the van revealed more drugs, according to court records.

In a phone call from jail, Hutson said he “did not believe they (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office) had the right to go into his condo, but that they (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office) ‘got me dead to rights’ on the other stuff,” court documents noted.

“Like all drug arrests, when you get a major dealer off the streets, it means a lot,” said Dave Bristow, spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Bristow said they have seen an increase of pills on the streets since the sheriff’s office started cracking down on heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin.

“We want to get the message out there that we’re going to keep putting these dealers in jail,” Bristow said.

On Friday, the sheriff’s office tweeted “drug overdoses in unincorporated Manatee County continue to sharply decline,” with deputies responding to 166 overdoses with 18 deaths in the first six months of 2018. That’s down from 881 overdoses and 85 deaths in the same period in 2017.

“Those numbers are really, really encouraging and we have to keep making arrests like this to keep those numbers down,” Bristow said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2018 at 1:43 PM.