Busted Volusia drug gang was mixing dangerous animal tranquilizer with fentanyl, police say
After a year-long investigation, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Monday announced it had busted a fentanyl distribution organization that was mixing a dangerous animal tranquilizer into the drugs it was selling.
The animal tranquilizer, xylazine, is known to cause wounds at injection sites that destroy flesh and can lead to the amputation of limbs. Because it is a sedative and not a narcotic, users who overdose on drugs mixed with the drug might not be revived by treatments like Narcan, said sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant.
Operation Empire was carried out by the Volusia Bureau of Investigation and East Volusia Narcotics Task Force along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the State Attorney’s Office.
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Investigators said the organization operated out of the South Daytona home of the group leader Javoris Edwards, 36, who was under house arrest for domestic violence battery. Edwards was arrested in October 2022 when a search warrant was issued at his home at 1614 Jones Street.
He was charged with armed trafficking of fentanyl, leasing, renting or possessing a home used to manufacture controlled substances, armed trafficking of cocaine, possession of a firearm by a felon, armed trafficking of methamphetamine, possession of MDMA, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, and possession of a controlled substance.
Edwards was in the Volusia County Branch Jail on Monday without bail.
Also arrested was Leron Willis, 36, of Deltona. Together the duo supplied kilograms of fentanyl to be distributed in Volusia County, investigators said.
Willis was arrested on Thursday and charged with the sale of fentanyl, four counts of trafficking in fentanyl, trafficking in methamphetamine, and the unlawful use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony. He was being held in the Volusia County Jail Monday on more than $2.6 million bail.
The investigation, which began in April 2022, involved months of surveillance, search warrants, intelligence gathering, and wiretaps, Gant said.
When drug agents raided Edwards' South Daytona home in October they seized more than seven ounces of a mixture of fentanyl and xylazine, investigators said. Edwards has been in custody since the October raid at his apartment.
Gant said that the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that the animal tranquilizer has become increasingly present in mixtures of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and other narcotics.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said drug users are gambling with their lives as they may not know what type of drug they are consuming.
“The opioid epidemic has cost too many lives already, but the introduction of fentanyl and xylazine into the supply means any dose could be your last,” Chitwood said. “Whatever drug you’re using right now, you’re gambling with your life because you really don’t know what you’re taking.”
Narcotics agents have arrested 11 other people. More arrests are expected as drug agents continue to investigate the organization, Gant said.
Charges include armed trafficking in fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and grand theft of a firearm, Gant said.
In the investigation, drug agents seized a total of 29 ounces of fentanyl and fentanyl/xylazine mixture, more than 11 ounces of cocaine, almost four ounces of crack cocaine, along with methamphetamine, a small amount of MDMA, $17,280 cash, and three firearms.
One of the guns was stolen, Gant said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Police bust fentanyl drug-dealing gang in Volusia County
