NEWS RELEASE 18-094 - MAY 4, 2018
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office today announced the results of Operation Spring Cleaning, a strategic initiative hosted along with 34 Florida counties that focused on the investigation and subsequent arrest of those manufacturing, delivering or trafficking controlled substances.
During this operation, the sheriff’s office made 81 arrests and took 77 drug traffickers off the streets. They confiscated more than 18 pounds of controlled substances and seized 4 firearms from individuals arrested on trafficking charges.
“Initiatives like these are crucial to maintaining the high quality of life we enjoy here on the suncoast,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. “Infiltrating the dealer networks to destroy the sale and distribution of opioids remains a top priority for the sheriff’s office. We will continue to aggressively pursue and investigate these crimes until dealers understand their business is not welcome in Sarasota County.
Florida’s medical examiners reported 704 people died of Fentanyl-related overdoses in the first half of 2016 which led to the passing of enhanced penalties for drug dealers and traffickers as seen in Florida House Bill 477. Since many dealers sell various types of drugs, Operation Spring Cleaning focused on capturing sales and trafficking related to highly abused controlled substances.
“Initiatives like these are crucial to maintaining the high quality of life we enjoy here on the suncoast,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. “Infiltrating the dealer networks to destroy the sale and distribution of opioids remains a top priority for the sheriff’s office. We will continue to aggressively pursue and investigate these crimes until dealers understand their business is not welcome in Sarasota County.
Florida’s medical examiners reported 704 people died of Fentanyl-related overdoses in the first half of 2016 which led to the passing of enhanced penalties for drug dealers and traffickers as seen in Florida House Bill 477. Since many dealers sell various types of drugs, Operation Spring Cleaning focused on capturing sales and trafficking related to highly abused controlled substances.
“The widespread use of controlled substances has devastated communities across our state,” said FSA President and Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson. “Enforcing controlled substance policies under Florida Statute 893.03 is a top priority for law enforcement officers to keep families and local communities safe.”
Operation Spring Cleaning contributes to two of the FSA business operations goals: to foster effective law enforcement and crime prevention and to promote the activities of Sheriffs. The results of this task force operation have led to many successful closed investigations of drug trafficking in the state of Florida. For a video from Sheriff Adkinson and Sheriff Prummell on this operation, visit https://youtu.be/-aUZJhRsDgo.