ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — It was one of the biggest drug busts Central Florida has ever seen. A marijuana operation brought in $750,000 per week and officers said they were selling mostly to University of Central Florida students.
In all, detectives had arrest warrants for 41 different suspects, many of whom were arrested in upscale homes in family neighborhoods. Detectives raided 12 houses Thursday morning in Orange, Seminole, Lake and Polk counties, where agents brought out hundreds of pounds of pot.
Seminole County says it is currently serving an additional seven search warrants. So far, officials have arrested 32 people and recovered 600 pounds of pot. Nine people are still wanted.
SUSPECTS: See Mug Shots RAW INTERVIEW: Kingpin's Girlfriend Talks MAJOR POT BUST: Raw Video | See Images
David Cole, a University of Central Florida student, screamed at WFTV's cameras, "Legalize marijuana!" as he was taken into custody for allegedly selling the drug.
The alleged head of the marijuana trafficking ring, David Cole, was taken into custody for selling high-level grade marijuana from California. His distributors have been identified as Nicholas Walters, David Jones III, Michael Duplantis, Andrew McCreary, Joshua Burkett, Devin Belson, Garret Gibbons, Elijah Moore Jr., Ross Goodman, Ronald Murray, Jorge J. Henkle, Rafael Leon and Christopher Tully.
The investigation revealed that David Cole had several sources of supply for the marijuana including Andrew Murdock of Winter Springs, Christopher Lafata and Jacob Parks both of Orlando, Christopher South, Samuel Peterson, Thomas Carpenter, Michael Grybek of Seminole County and Chase Alley of Orlando, who all worked and distributed marijuana collectively (see mug shots).
Seminole County authorities, along with 15 other agencies, confiscated 600 pounds of marijuana, guns, cars and $240,000 in cash. The ring was selling high-grade level marijuana valued a $4,300 to $4,500 a pound. Low-grade marijuana sells for $500 a pound.
Authorities said they were able to bust the drug ring after they learned Cole was distributing $90,000 worth of pot a week. He bought the pot from Chris South of Lake Mary. Agents say South was head of the Florida region. He bought the marijuana from Mexico and California and shipped it across state lines.
"They were using a broker in California working as a conduit between buyers here in Central Florida and growers of the marijuana in California," Captain Sammy Gibson of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.
Drug units said South purchased medical marijuana in the US; he then would purchase Mexican marijuana from Marco Suarez.
WFTV learned much of the marijuana the ring sold had been grown legally in California under medical marijuana laws.
Officials say the drug dealers were exploiting California's medical marijuana law. The buyers bought the high-grade product and then made millions in profits. But when delivery drivers transporting the drugs were caught by patrols in places like Oklahoma, they rented airplanes to smuggle the drugs to Central Florida.
"I do believe California has it legalized and hopefully the whole nation will have it legalized!" Cole said.
Suarez was the head of the Mexican drug trafficking ring.
While serving 14 search warrants early Thursday morning, agents arrested Suarez at his east Orange County home (video) | (images) . Several children were inside his home during the raid.
"Did you sell any marijuana?" WFTV reporter Mary Nguyen asked.
He shook his head.
"Then why are you in custody?" Nguyen asked, receiving no response.
The two organizations were distributing $500,000 to $750,000 of pot per week. Agents are still trying to figure out how Suarez was able to smuggle the marijuana into the United States.
UCF STUDENTS ARRESTED IN DRUG RING BUST
University of Central Florida students were arrested for their part in a four-county drug trafficking ring bust Thursday. Investigators said the dealers were getting rich by selling their drugs to UCF students.
The drugs were shipped in from California and Mexico to houses in four Central Florida counties and then the dealers would sell the drugs to students.
America's third largest university, with 53,000 students, turned out to be a huge draw for the dealers.
A tiny, older, kind of run down block home is where detectives say the drug dealer who distributed $90,000 worth of marijuana every week lived. Dana Crowe says she's the girlfriend of accused UCF pot kingpin David Cole.
"I heard pounding on the door. I actually thought it was a bad nightmare. I had no clue what was going on. And then, what do you know, door was caved in. I figured out what was going on," she said.
Deputies turned Cole's rented home upside down looking for drugs; every drawer was dumped out and they even pulled out the vents and looked inside the duct work. Crowe said she had no idea her boyfriend was selling marijuana.
"No, not at all, that's why this is such a shock to me. Right now, I'm so scatter-brained. I'm looking at the house, I'm looking at everything. I just, I am so shocked right now, actually," she said.
Crowe says Cole was an environmental sciences major and doing well in school. He ran an aquatic landscaping business on the side and she thought that was where all the extra money was coming from.
Crowe said, before the cops led him away, her sweetheart had these final words: "He said, ‘I'm sorry' and that's all he could say."
UCF police confirmed that seven people arrested were students: David Cole, Christopher Tully, Rafael Leon, Jorge J. Henkle, Ronald Murray, Garrett Gibbons and Elijah Moore Jr.
WFTV was at the UCF campus Thursday and nobody seemed surprised that several students moonlighted as drug dealers. It's a huge campus and nobody WFTV talked to knew the UCF students involved in the drug ring. But they admit, it is a pretty good place for that kind of business.
"Kids smoke pot. They'd be able to sell it to a lot of people, their friends. I'm not that shocked by it," freshman Kelsey Lacke said.
"It's a big money-making opportunity. There are lots of students here. Lots of them use drugs. It's a money-making opportunity. It's a business," sophomore James Thorpe said.
Thorpe and Lacke wonder if the ring located there because of the potential market.
"Well, UCF being the third largest university in the country, it sounds like it, doesn't it?" UCF police Sgt. Troy Williamson said.
But Sergeant Williamson also stressed that accused kingpin David Cole and his UCF cohorts were all arrested off-campus. Drug arrests on campus are very few and far between, just four in 2007 and 10 in 2008. The numbers for 2009 haven't been finalized yet.
As for the timing of the crackdown, campus police said it couldn't be better with spring break about to begin.
"Especially with students from all across the country coming down to Florida and, if they're looking for dealers, they're not gonna be able to find any," Williamson said.
But Thorpe and Lacke aren't so sure.
"Somebody else will probably just come up and fill his shoes, if he gets taken out," Thorpe said.
WFTV asked for a comment from UCF President John Hitt, but did not get a response from the administration.
The students arrested are facing prison time. Officials said they also face a hearing before the Student Rights and Responsibilities Office, which has the authority to kick them out of the university.
College students smoke marijuana more frequently than any other age group in the country. A recent study showed 30.2 percent of college students smoked pot in the past year. If that same statistic is true for UCF, than of the school's 53,500 students the drug operation had more than 16,000 potential customers.
WFTV
