Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez has a problem with the drug dealers his detectives are arresting not being sentenced as traffickers -- or not being sentenced at all -- plain and simple.
On Thursday, the same day that Ninth Circuit State Attorney Monique Worrell -- whose office is responsible for prosecuting the drug dealers -- announced her re-election campaign, Lopez shared prosecution data that would dictate the criminals the Sheriff's Office are catching don't stay caught.
With full 2022 crime data available, Lopez said the most alarming part of his agency's review of it is the amount of illegal narcotics being distributed in the community. He noted fentanyl, heroin and cocaine by name.
"We need to get this crap off our streets. It's killing people,” he said. “We go after the high-level people who are pushing this junk into our community. These are people who defend their trades with guns and contribute other violent crimes to the county. “
Lopez said that in 2022 deputies administered 94 doses of Narcan, the “antidote” drug that can reverse the effects of a narcotic like fentanyl – and save a life.
Then, that life is in the hands of a state prosecutor.
“The legislature has stated that traffickers need to be removed from our community,” Lopez said. Under the law, traffickers can get up to 30 years in prison, but the minimum sentence is three years."
But, many of those arrested and charged with drug crimes in Osceola County aren't getting those three years behind bars. Lopez said 73 people were arrested in the county for drug trafficking, but court records show none of them went to prison on a mandatory minimum sentence.
"That's sad. In 2021 there were about 50 cases, and four or five got the mandatory minimum. Instead, traffickers are encouraged to plea down, such as sale and delivery, or possession, allowing them to avoid the mandatory sentence. Most traffickers have received probation sentences. We've seen those on probation re-offend."
Lopez gave examples of multiple-time offenders, charged over and over with felony drug charges, whose crimes were lowered and plead at that level by the State Attorney's Office. Others simply had their charges dropped, even with possession of the drugs, illegal arms and large sums of cash.
"We're sending a strong message that we're not going to tolerate this in our community. I know our community wants these traffickers in prison,” Lopez said. “But slapping them on the hand and dropping charges sends the wrong message for killing our neighbors. We need to take a stand and put an end to this."
On Wednesday, Worrell held a press conference regarding another matter – a shooting case in Orange County where the State Attorney’s Office did not press charges citing a lack of substantial evidence.
“We understand what it takes to move a case from probable cause to reasonable doubt, and we will not ignore the facts where they are lacking,” she said.
He said the low prosecution rate raises a concern but has not been in contact with Worrell yet.
"Our detectives are constantly in contact with the state. When we see a case plead down, it means there was probable cause. It's not a training issue; I'm not sure what the issue is, I don't have an answer. The is a public safety concern, people are dying, I don't want to go into 2023 like this."
He said if it took taking more of the fight to the state level, he would.
"But it should be taken care of locally, working together, or it's going to continue to deteriorate our way of life. I personally know people who have overdosed on fentanyl.
"The amount on a pencil head of fentanyl can kill a person. The amount in these bags could kill everyone in this room. This is what's poisoning our community."
