KnightNews.com has obtained the following press release from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. They have also sent us photos. We are working to get them up for you.
Seminole
County
Sheriff’s
Office
Press Release
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office/City County Investigative Bureau in
September 2009 began an investigation into a marijuana drug trafficking
organization operating within Seminole County that was headed by David Cole of
Chuluota. It was determined that Cole was distributing pounds of high-grade
marijuana on a weekly basis to Seminole County distributors as well as
distributors attending the University of Central Florida. These 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 high-grade marijuana was being distributed for $4300 to $4500 per pound
and was estimated that Cole was distributing approximately $90,000.00 worth of
marijuana on a weekly basis.
The investigation revealed that David Cole had several sources of supply for the
marijuana to include Andrew Murdock of Winter Springs, Christopher Lafata and
Jacob Parks both of Orlando who distributed collectively, and Christopher South,
Samuel Peterson, Thomas Carpenter and Michael Grybek of Seminole County,
and Chase Alley of Orlando who all worked and distributed marijuana
collectively.
On June 13, 2009 Nicholas Walters was the victim of a drug related home
invasion at a residence in unincorporated Oviedo. During this incident, Walters
and other associates were confronted by four males armed with guns demanding
access to a safe. Walters and others were tied up while suspects stole a variety
of different items.
On October 30, 2009 Christopher Lafata was the victim of a drug related home
invasion at his residence located in the Waterford Trails neighborhood of Orange
County. During this incident that was aired by local media, Lafata fired numerous
gunshots from an assault type rifle (believed to be an AK-47) at the intruders.
The investigation continued into Christopher Lafata and Jacob Parks until on
January 13, 2010 the Orlando Police Department arrested the two (2) subjects in
the area of the Millenia Mall. The subjects were in possession of twenty-one (21)
pounds of marijuana along with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol and a
machine gun style pistol containing .223 armor-piercing rounds. In addition, CCIB
seized $129,980.00 in cash from a safe deposit box being rented by Christopher
Lafata.
On January 5, 2010 Oklahoma law enforcement authorities stopped a vehicle
occupied by Kenneth Koster of Santa Barbara County California. Authorities
seized thirty-three (33) pounds of high-grade marijuana from Koster who stated
the marijuana was en-route to Florida. The Santa Barbara County California
Sheriff’s Office were notified and executed a search warrant at the residence of
Kenneth Koster and seized over 100 marijuana plants, ten (10) pounds of
processed marijuana, and $27,000.00 in currency. In addition, Santa Barbara
Sheriff’s Office arrested George Foxx, Susan Koster, and Amanda Hilton on
various criminal violations. California authorities determined the marijuana plants
and marijuana seized was valued at $490,000.00.
The CCIB investigation determined that the marijuana seized in Oklahoma was
destined to be delivered to Seminole County to Christopher South, Samuel
Peterson, Thomas Carpenter, Michael Grybek, and Chase Alley. After the
seizure in Oklahoma, the investigation revealed that South, Peterson, Carpenter,
Grybek and Alley hired a pilot to fly to California
in order to smuggle a shipment of high-grade marijuana back to Central Florida in
an effort to avoid highway drug interdiction efforts being conducted throughout
the nation. Thomas Carpenter at the direction of South,
Peterson, Grybek, and Alley rented a plane from the Orlando Executive Airport in
Orlando and flew to California where they met Peterson, Grybek, and Alley who
had driven to California days in advance to solidify the drug smuggling venture
with the California distributors. With the assistance of the Santa Barbara
California Sheriff’s Office, CCIB was able to document that the air smuggling
venture had in fact occurred (the aforementioned individuals have been charged
with violations pertaining to the importation of marijuana into the State of Florida).
Once the marijuana arrived in Seminole County, the drugs were then distributed
to members of the organization throughout the State of Florida. Agents identified
these distributors as David Cole, Kyle Bachanov, Brian Fuqua, Jody Awalt, and
Mark Webb.
Through the investigation, agents determined that California, due to their
Proposition 215 that permits the growing of marijuana for medical use is being
exploited by drug trafficking organizations throughout Central Florida. The
Central Florida drug trafficking organization was paying $2400 per pound for the
marijuana in California and re-selling the marijuana in Central Florida for $4300-
$4500 per pound. The Central Florida drug trafficking organization would utilize a
California “broker” to set up drug transactions, who in this case was George
Foxx. George Foxx would broker the drug transaction between the Central
Florida organization and the California marijuana growers. The California
marijuana growers could only produce a certain amount of marijuana during a
specific time frame so they would “pool” their marijuana and utilize Foxx to broker
the deal between the buyers and the growers.
The investigation continued into South, Carpenter, Peterson, Alley, and Grybek
at which time CCIB determined that they were also involved in the distribution of
“commercial” grade marijuana originating from Mexico. CCIB identified several
Mexican drug trafficking organizations that were sources of supply for this
organization that were operating out of Orange, Lake, and Polk Counties. At this
time, CCIB contacted the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to assist in the investigation. The Lake
County Sheriff’s Office, the Central Florida HIDTA Support Center, the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, and HIDTA task forces in Polk and Pinellas
County also joined in the investigation with CCIB. This joint investigation was
able to identify several residences throughout Central Florida that were being
utilized as “stash” houses for the distribution of large shipments of marijuana as
well as identifying many members of these Mexican drug trafficking
organizations. The investigation determined that these organizations were
conservatively distributing $500,000.00 to $750,000.00 worth of marijuana on a
weekly basis throughout the Central Florida area.
Agents determined that the sources of supply for the Mexican marijuana to
South, Peterson, Carpenter, Grybek and Alley was Marcos Antonio Marcos and
Ricardo Zamora of Orlando, Jordi Hoyo and Casiano Hoyo of Davenport Florida,
and Eduardo Munguia of Sorrento Florida. Agents also determined that
distributors of the Mexican marijuana for the Christopher South organization was
Gary Bachanov of Orlando, Bradley Carpenter and David Snyder of Pinellas
County, and David Sutherland of Seminole County. In addition, agents
determined that the Mexican sources of supply were also distributing large
quantities of marijuana to Cromwell Henderson of Seminole County and Robert
Massey of Orlando.
After several months of intense investigation, the investigation has resulted in
forty-one (41) arrest warrants being issued for individuals involved in the
trafficking of marijuana. In addition, fourteen (14) search warrants have been
executed throughout Central Florida, five (5) in Seminole County, five (5) in
Orange County, one (1) in Lake County, one (1) in Polk County and two (2) in
Pinellas County.
The agencies that participated in this investigation are:
State and local agencies:
1) City County Investigative Bureau- comprised of Sheriff’s Deputies and
members from all municipal police departments within Seminole County
2) Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
3) Metropolitan Bureau Of Investigation (MBI)
4) Lake County Sheriff’s Office
5) Orange County Sheriff’s Office
6) Volusia County Sheriff’s Office
7) Orlando Police Department
8) Florida Department of Law Enforcement
9) Seminole/Brevard State Attorney’s Office
10) University of Central Florida Police Department
Federal Agencies:
1) DEA
2) Central Florida HIDTA Support Center
3) Pinellas County HIDTA task force
4) Polk County HIDTA task force
5) U.S. Marshal’s Service
California authorities:
1) Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
