ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — The owner of a popular Orange County Jamaican restaurant was arrested for buying a kilo of cocaine. Mark's Caribbean Cuisine is located on University Boulevard (see map), just a few miles from UCF. Federal agents say the owner used his restaurant as a front for buying and selling drugs.
READ: Criminal Complaint Against Owner
According to the criminal complaint (read it), suppliers would walk the drugs in the front door and they'd go out the back door to waiting drug dealers. Police say the owner was the middleman.
To customers, Mark Jathan is known for serving up the best Jamaican food in town. Federal agents say he was cooking up pricey drug deals worth tens of thousands of dollars. They say his restaurant was a front for drug trafficking.
According to the criminal complaint, Jathan considered himself a drug distributor; bring him large amounts of drugs and he'd find a buyer for you in no time.
Last Tuesday, DEA agents set up a sting at Mark's Caribbean Cuisine. An undercover informant showed up with a kilogram of cocaine. Court documents show Jathan handed the informant approximately $25,000 in cash.
Once the money changed hands, the Feds cuffed him.
When asked about the bundles of cash, Jathan allegedly told them "the money was not his and that it belonged to someone who wanted to buy his business."
"You can't say anything?" WFTV reporter Q. McCray asked employees of the restaurant.
"You don't want us to get us fired do you," one said.
No one answered at Jathan's Seminole County home, though three cars were in the driveway.
According to court paperwork, Jathan said he could move "one kilogram of cocaine per day and one hundred pounds of marijuana per week." Drug enforcement investigators consider him an "upper level dealer."
That doesn't seem to bother his patrons.
"Are you going to stop coming here?" McCray asked customer Keith Rivera.
"Probably not. The food's that good," he said.
McCray spoke with Jathan off-camera. His lawyer told him not to discuss any details of the case. He says he did nothing wrong and is awaiting his court date. He was released on a surety bond, meaning he didn't have to pay anything, though his bond is set at $50,000.