Prosecutions Are Up, but Formulas Change Quicker Than the Drug Code Can TAMPA - Synthetic marijuana and other drugs continue to bedevil authorities, who say some progress is being made in the battle against unregulated chemicals that are landing teenagers and young adults in emergency rooms with horrifying reactions. Although prosecutions mount, authorities say local law enforcement is frustrated by drug sellers who make minor changes in chemical formulations to get around the law, staying just out of reach of police. Once a substance is specifically listed as illegal, a new formula is created. [continues 1387 words]
TAMPA - On Nov. 1, 120 federal drug offenders sentenced in Tampa will be released from prison as part of a rollback of federal drug penalties. Among the prisoners tasting freedom will be Lucas Lopez, 86, and his son, Benito, 47, Miami commercial fishermen who have served 22 years of their 30-year sentences after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilos of cocaine in Tampa. For both men, it was their first conviction. Neither had any disciplinary issues in 22 years behind bars, according to their lawyer, Conrad Kahn of the Federal Public Defender's office. [continues 1547 words]
TAMPA - Not so long ago, they ran what authorities described as the most active pill mill in the United States, and now they are getting out from under long prison sentences by helping prosecutors jail other pill pushers. In the process, they're pulling back the curtain, showing jurors what it was like at what has been called ground zero for pill mills, the prescription narcotic equivalent to the "cocaine cowboy" days in South Florida. The Tampa Bay Wellness Centre was so popular, according to court testimony, and was drawing so many patients that parking had become a serious issue. [continues 1909 words]
Los Zetas is considered the most violent drug cartel in Mexico, using terror and brute force to impose its will. In a country renowned for drug-related brutality, the cartel distinguished itself last year in San Juan by leaving 49 headless, handless and footless bodies near a spray-painted message at the entrance gates: "100% Los Zetas," a sign from the cartel that it owned the city. Ronald and Esther Winter, a retired Clearwater couple in their 70s who used to own construction businesses, have never been in trouble with the law. Ronald Winter says they raised their three children with strong morals, were part of the PTA and have worked hard to make contributions to the community. [continues 1817 words]
TAMPA -- When drug dealers started disappearing from street corners this year, Tampa police detectives thought something was going on. And when officers made traffic stops, they began noticing something odd. They were finding "massive amounts" of preloaded debit cards along with ledgers and laptop computers, said Sgt. Terry Goff in an exclusive interview with The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8. They soon uncovered what Goff said was an explosion of tax fraud that permeated the city's poorest neighborhoods and some of its most influential conclaves. Erstwhile street criminals were using laptops and mailboxes to steal hundreds of millions of dollars by filing fraudulent tax returns with stolen Social Security numbers. [continues 1549 words]
TAMPA - For about a year, semisubs seemed to be the way to go for Colombian cocaine smugglers.Investigators with the Tampa-based Operation Panama Express were plucking crews out of the eastern Pacific Ocean at a rate of about one a month in 2009. But so far this year, investigators have intercepted just two semisubs, the most recent in July. The prosecutor overseeing the cases thinks the drop-off may have something to do with a federal law conceived in Tampa. [continues 432 words]
TAMPA - A former Pasco County sheriff's deputy was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for participating in a drug ring by using his patrol car and service weapon to rob a man he thought was a drug courier. Don Riggans, 35, tearfully apologized to the court, prosecutors, the community and his family for not only breaking the law, but going against everything he said he stood for. He told U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara he did it to get money so he could pay off debts and purchase a dream house for his wife and young daughters. The hardest thing he ever had to do, Riggans said in an emotion-choked voice, was look his daughters in the eye and explain his crime. [continues 121 words]
Informant Aided Probe of Prison Crime TAMPA - In 1989, Rene Garcia Myles was 22 years old and had nothing to look forward to but a life in federal prison for cocaine and weapons convictions. Instead of giving up, Myles turned himself around, focusing his energy on helping the good guys - putting his own life in jeopardy while helping the FBI ferret out corruption and gang activity behind bars. On Friday, Myles was rewarded. A federal judge reduced his life sentence to the 19 years he had served. As his family erupted in tearful celebration, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich said, "What is justice for you - the sentence I impose is time served." [continues 610 words]
TAMPA - Carolyn Aviles won't call it an accident. A pickup hit her side of the car as she was pulling into the street from a parking lot. A mishap, she said. That's all. But in the seat beside her, her son grabbed his neck. "Don't even go there," she warned. She knew her son, Joseph Valdez, schemed to get drugs. Faking neck pain from a car accident could bring the 29-year-old addict a fresh supply of oxycodone, Xanax or Soma. [continues 2643 words]
Patients Praise Him For 'Excellent' Service TAMPA - Law enforcement agents burst Into a Seffner clinic run by the former medical director of the Hillsborough County Jail on Wednesday afternoon and charged the doctor with drug trafficking. Patients of John N. Mubang said investigators read a list of names of people who died of overdoses from prescriptions written by Mubang, who was handcuffed as his startled patients were questioned by law enforcement officers. Mubang, 57, was charged with three counts Of prescribing drugs for monetary gain and one count of trafficking in controlled substances, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. [continues 680 words]
U.S. Bill Surfaces to Target TAMPA -- Semi-submarines are plying the eastern Pacific and Caribbean packed with tons of cocaine. Just a few years ago a novelty, the vessels, which travel 99 percent below the surface of the sea, are becoming the method of choice for drug lords to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ruddy, who oversees "Operation Panama Express," an international drug investigation headquartered in Tampa. The vessels are becoming so common, a bill has been introduced in Congress to make it a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison just to be on one, regardless of whether there are drugs onboard. That's because authorities think the only purpose of the vessels is to smuggle drugs. [continues 831 words]
TAMPA - Formerly a drug used only to treat heroin addiction, methadone has become more popular in recent years to treat pain. As the use of the drug increases, related deaths are rising at an "alarming rate," according the National Drug Intelligence Center. Florida has become one of the leading states for methadone overdose deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control. Now, authorities are wondering if methadone may be fatal even in therapeutic doses. "I would never let anybody in my family take methadone unless they were a heroin addict to begin with," said Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams. [continues 504 words]
TAMPA - Brandon Erwin and Andrew Culver traveled together in the glitzy drug world, and both eventually wanted out. Culver told his mother he had an appointment to see a psychologist who might help him get over his cocaine addiction. Erwin traded his drug-dealing, celebrity-studded life, serving professional athletes and other VIP customers at the Blue Martini nightclub, for Bible studies and family. For both men, their decisions to break free of drugs came too late. On Wednesday, Erwin, 30, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the minimum term for his conviction for criminal culpability in Culver's drug-overdose death. [continues 500 words]
He Helped DEA as Part of Plea Deal TAMPA - The prosecution's key witness in an overdose death case testified Wednesday he encouraged the defendant to sell him larger quantities of drugs. Brandon Erwin is standing trial on drug distribution charges and a charge that he is criminally responsible for the November 2005 overdose death of Andrew Culver, a 35-year-old businessman who authorities say bought cocaine and methadone from Erwin. Erwin worked part time as a host in the Blue Martini nightclub in International Plaza. The key witness, Stephen Wilkinson, was free on bail after being arrested on drug distribution charges when he met Erwin and others in the club and told law enforcement he could provide information about drug dealing in the club. [continues 334 words]
TAMPA - The investigators of "Operation Panama Express" have seized an unprecedented shipment of 3,800 gallons of cocaine in liquid form aboard an Ecuadorian fishing vessel in the Eastern Pacific. The milky-white syrup was in the fish hold of a vessel named the Emperador that was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard on April 25, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy, who oversees the Tampa-based international investigation of Colombian drug trafficking. Ruddy said authorities have seen liquid cocaine before, but always in smaller quantities - smuggled in rum bottles, for instance. This, he said, was the largest seizure of the liquid form of cocaine by far. He said the substance has a strong odor similar to ammonia. [continues 581 words]
But He Didn't help Himself, Friend Says TAMPA - Anthony Giancola tried to help others at one of the lowest points of his life, and that defines the former principal, friend Susan Juers said - more than buying crack cocaine in his school office. Giancola resigned his $74,000-a-year post as Van Buren Middle School principal Friday, the day after his arrest on charges he purchased crack from an undercover officer. As he posted bail late Thursday, Giancola, 40, faced television cameras and said, "I need to get my life together and then maybe from that, other people will learn not to make the mistakes I've made." [continues 1341 words]
Task Force Has Seized More Than 600 Tons TAMPA - The conviction of Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo has not slowed the pace of Operation Panama Express, the Tampa-based international drug investigation that targets Colombian drug smugglers. In seven years, the multiagency task force has claimed credit for the seizure or destruction at sea of more than 600 tons of cocaine, with a street value of nearly $9 billion, in 173 maritime interdictions. The investigation has led to the arrest of more than 1,250 people, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy, adding that there has been a higher than 96 percent conviction rate. [continues 905 words]
TAMPA - Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Thursday searched two pharmacies in Lakeland and Tampa owned by the same individuals. The action was taken against Medipharm-RX on North Clark Avenue in Tampa and Medcenter on South Carter Road in Lakeland. DEA spokeswoman Jeannette Moran said the agency suspended the certificates of registration for the pharmacies, which sold prescription drugs over the Internet. The certificates allow businesses to purchase and sell controlled substances. A message left at Medipharm on Thursday afternoon was not returned. The telephone at Medcenter appeared to be out of order. [continues 109 words]
Effect on Trade Likely Minimal TAMPA - A federal jury Wednesday handed the government a near-total victory, convicting a man described by prosecutors as one of the world's most powerful drug lords. However, the case against Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo will have little effect on the U.S. drug war. A former leader in Colombia's notorious Cali cartel, Valencia was the top prize of "Operation Panama Express," a decade-long Tampa-based international drug investigation, which continues to target cocaine smugglers with no signs of abetting. [continues 813 words]
TAMPA - After more than three months of trial, a federal jury will begin deliberations Monday in the case of a man prosecutors say was once one of the largest drug kingpins in the world. Jurors are set to decide the case of [Name redacted] , who is accused by the government of exporting hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia. The prosecution alleges [Name redacted] was a top leader in the notorious Cali Cartel. After receiving legal instructions from U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich on Friday, jurors selected a foreman and determined a schedule for deliberations that could take days or weeks. [continues 494 words]
