Sept 3, 2013 - CARTEL BUST IN LAKE PLACID, FL- ND interview with Hardee County Sheriff Arnold Lanier

 

 

HARDEE COUNTY SHERIFF ARNOLD LANIER

LEADS FEDERAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO MAJOR MEXICAN CARTEL METHAMPHETAMINE

BUST 

LAKE PLACID, FLORIDA

On August 19, 2013, Jose Duarte, aka Margarito Garcia-Camacho was arrested in Lake Placid as an illegal alien.  He was associated with two other subjects, Ivan Cabrerra-Pineda and Brittany Farabee of Charlotte County who were also arrested in the city of Zolfo Springs in Hardee County by the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency/Border Patrol and Hardee County Drug Task Force.  The two individuals arrested in Hardee County have been charged by federal agencies for possession of over twelve pounds of methamphetamine, five pounds located in Hardee County in the two subjects vehicle, and seven pounds located in Farabee’s residence in Charlotte County.  It is believed that the drugs are from Atlanta, Georgia possibly smuggled into the U.S. by Mexican Drug Lord Chapo Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel.  The Hardee County Drug Task Force contacted both the DEA and Border Patrol to inform them that Jose Duarte, now living in Highlands County, had been previously deported and was smuggled back into the United States.  The Hardee County Drug Task Force was also aware that Duarte was a known drug trafficker who has lived and spent time in Hardee County.

  

“On August 19, when Duarte was questioned, he told officers he wanted to make a deal to lessen the federal drug charge of ‘conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute,’’’ said Hardee County Sherriff Arnold Lanier.  “We set up a drug deal in Hardee County with Duarte agreeing to call his partner Pineda to meet at a designated location for a meth sale to agents.  Pineda and his girlfriend, Farabee, drove from Charlotte County to Zolfo Springs where they delivered five pounds of methamphetamine.  Farabee cooperated with Law Enforcement and took them to her house in Charlotte County where approximately seven more pounds of methamphetamine, with a street value of approximately $250,000, was located.  Duarte told other drug dealers ‘he was untouchable as he was working with law enforcement,’” said Major Randy Dey of the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office.  “It should be noted that this individual had previously worked for other Law Enforcement agencies but the Hardee County Drug Task Force knew he was playing both sides.”

 

Sheriff Lanier says that drugs cross the border through Texas en route to Atlanta which is one of the largest meth distribution centers in the U.S.  The Mexican cartels produce the largest amount of meth shipped into this country.  “Although we do not have any evidence that there are any cartel cells operating in Hardee County, we continue to monitor and follow-up leads to possible money laundering through mock businesses but most of our drug arrests are small dealers.   In the 1980’s when we first initiated our Drug Task Force, we only had one person in the unit, now we have seven,” Sheriff Lanier added.   When asked if there was any cartel “human trafficking” in the area, another major cartel enterprise, Sherriff Lanier said, “Human trafficking occurs mostly in larger metropolitan areas such as Orlando.” 

 

The three suspects were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for transport to the federal detention center in Tampa to await charges before a Federal Judge.  If the suspects receive penitentiary time, they will have to serve it in the United States before being deported.  According to an article in Highlands Today written by Jay Meisel, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa issued a statement that Duarte has been previously deported from the United States for drug charges in North Carolina but was smuggled back into the U.S. by the cartel.