Volusia County multi-agency drug bust results in 38 warrants for fentanyl, meth distribution
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office Thursday conducted a drug bust resulting in the arrest of “most” of the 38 individuals accused of being involved in “a major drug trafficking ring,” the sheriff’s office announced that afternoon.
Sheriff’s deputies, with the assistance of “about a dozen” other agencies, led a series of raids Thursday to arrest the suspects after an “eight-month multi-jurisdictional investigation.”
“It takes a team effort to bring down a drug trafficking organization like this, and that’s exactly what we did in this investigation,” said Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood in a new release. “Today we put a bunch of drug dealers in jail and made a major dent in the fentanyl, heroin and meth supply in our community. But we know our work is never done, and we have to pick it right back up tomorrow."
While most of the accused were arrested Thursday, “those remaining will be arrested in the hours and days to come,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Last year: Accused drug dealers arrested in Volusia County, one found hiding in attic of Deltona home
The drug ring is allegedly “responsible for dealing fentanyl, heroin, meth and cocaine.”
Operation seizes 'pounds' of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine
The drug trafficking ring “distributed illegal narcotics to other dealers throughout the Volusia County communities of Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill and Deltona, as well as Pomona Park in Putnam County," according to the new release.
Authorities said deputies seized “more than a kilogram of fentanyl, more than 19 pounds of methamphetamine, 69 grams of cocaine, and various equipment used to manufacture and package drugs for sale.”
Deputies also found 75 grams of fentanyl stored in a baby diaper at a Daytona Beach home.
Three of the accused leaders of the drug ring — Toure Wilder, 24; Khyree Isaac, 24; and Allen Messer, 58 — are facing multiple charges involving conspiracy to traffic, trafficking and manufacturing drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Others also arrested in the operation were charged with “unlawful use of a two-way communications device, unlawful financial transactions, solicitation to deliver fentanyl, conspiracy to purchase fentanyl, cocaine” among other charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
State attorney general to prosecute the case
According to the sheriff’s office, the Florida attorney general will prosecute the case.
“Thankful to our law enforcement partners for shutting down this massive drug trafficking ring in Volusia County and getting this deadly poison off our streets,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in the news release. “Now our statewide prosecutors will ensure these 38 drug traffickers are held accountable for their crimes.”
Approximately 15 agencies collaborated in the eight-month investigation leading to Thursday’s bust, including the “Volusia Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the East Volusia Narcotics Task Force, FBI, DEA, FDLE, Homeland Security Investigations, ATF, Central Florida HIDTA, the DeLand, Edgewater, Holly Hill, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach, and Port Orange police departments, the VSO’s Overdose Task Force, Deltona Narcotics Enforcement Team, West Volusia Narcotics Task Force, and SWAT teams from VSO and FDLE," according to the news release.
Special Agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Field Office Kristin Rehler said the FBI “and our partners will continue to use every legal means available to rid our communities of dangerous drug distributors and the wanton destruction their activities create.”
In a video released by the sheriff's office about the operation, Chitwood said those who “are peddling this poison and killing our residents will be behind bars and hopefully in jail for a long, long time.”
“The message has to be clear,” Chitwood continued in the news release. “If you’re going to peddle that poison in this community, we are coming to get you. Be prepared for what’s next.”
Editor's note: The headlines have been corrected to reflect that 25 of the 38 warrants resulted in arrests.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County drug bust nets 25 arrests after 8-month investigation
