UCF’s Pot Supply May Go Dry After Major Bust
Crime, News — By Staff on March 4, 2010 at 11:34 am
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 (Jeffrey Zimbleman of Orlando) 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. Jeffrey Zimbleman and 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
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
Tweet This
Digg This
Share on Facebook
Stumble it
43 Comments
anybody know what’s going on with this story? has any of the 41 arrested had their court date yet? anybody’s charges get dropped? more evidence? etc.
If that’s the life you wanna live then u gotta know the consequences…. Cole isn’t the reason everyone went Down… The CI is…. He was pretty dumb with the way he handled his biz … Very talkative on the phone… N ya look up all the names who were arrested there’s a few being charged with importing… Cole is getting it hard as well as some others as for the distributors there lawyers should be able to help them a lot… I’m sure there all gunna say where they were getting it from to reduce there charges…
Like i said in my last post i can see how they might have something against David and the other higher ups because they actually recovered physical evidence but for most of the people there seems to be no evidence BUT phone calls and video.
Im not saying that the cops dont have a case, but my friends top notch lawyer his parents got him will tear this apart for him. What evidence do they have on the smaller buyers? A phone call saying they were coming over to get something, a video of them walking in and out of Davids house with a school bag? They didnt even catch my friend with anything, it was just an arrest warrant. That means 10 years minimum??? Give me a break.
If you guys don’t believe the evidence/proof/charges then look them up, do the research. Read the affidavit. They have 100% proof of every transaction David Cole made. And no his bond is not the highest, the higher ups that he got his goods from have bonds set at half a million. If you READ THE AFFIDAVIT…a CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT turned in David Cole, and from there police tracked who he got it from AS WELL AS who he sold it to. If David Cole were a little smarter, maybe he could have noticed that the cops were on to him FOR 6 MONTHS. The sheriff and police followed proper procedure in an investigation like this, this is nothing new for them. There is nothing sketchy…He is the reason that everyone else was arrested. They have every phone call conversation word for word between his customers and his sources. You think his charges are the most, you should see who he got his pot from. Either way, it’s all thanks to David Cole and the Confidential Informant that he sold to. He’s quite stupid if you ask me. There is a way to be smart about this business.
http://0-www.wftv.com.iii.ocls.info/pdf/22743645/detail.html
I would advise you to download yourself a backup copy. the link used to be available on the wftv news article but was removed a few days ago.The link is however still alive.
Be prepared to read some pretty incriminating things.
Where is the affidavit I would like to read that as well.
to Free DC
I had a very very close friend who was one of the 41 people arrested. He was also a ucf student. I guess hes considered a “distributor”. His bond was set at 50k, but luckily hes out. These guys are facing 10 years min, some life like Cole. Ive read a lot of the 700+ page affidavit. You ever watch HBO’s the wire? This is the real life of that. Trash digging, hidden car trackers, cameras set up in the street to watch his house, wiretapping, etc.
Cole is being charged with 120+ counts. By the looks of it, every count that Cole is being charged with is mirrored by the same charge to someone else, sometimes multiple charges to same buyer. My friend is facing a handful. that’s why daves supposedly the “kingpin” with a bond of 250,000 which is probably more so than anyone else involved.
Im no lawyer but something seems fishy. I can see how david cole could be charged with something small since they recovered drugs from his house, but as for my friend and some others they have no evidence other than phone calls and maybe video of people coming and going.At least listed in the charging affidavit that is.Guess there could/will be more evidence.
I hope this helps. Please dont let this story die. These good kids need help.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-08-marijuana_N.htm
it is only a matter of time before all the states come around to legalization. the war on drugs is a joke. i wrote it in my diary and laughed about it later
All in all. I watched Cole grow up. He is a hell of a guy. I hate seeing this happen to him. There is nothing that anyone can do about it though. The legalization of Marijuana for any purpose is long ways away from the state of Florida. Unfortunately I believe that they will make an example of Cole this time. I listen to the story and I wonder why was all of this news about Cole? There were many distrubutors. Are they all facing the same amount of charges? I looked up the charges on the seminole county jail arrests page and I looked up a few of the names that were noted. Some were on Nebbia hold, but none of them had the amount of charges that Mr. Cole had. He was not the brains of the operation but he is going down the hardest.
The smarter people in any underground activity generally have a good amount of faith in themselves to make money in ventures other than the black market. The not so bright people don’t have as much faith in themselves, they know one way to make money and they’re gonna get a little reckless and stupid about their activities. I think we generally see the not so bright stoners going down and representing us in the media screaming things like “legalize weed” at a camera. The brighter kids a)don’t go down as often as people making stupid decisions that are just about the money. b)Don’t wanna openly scrafice themselves to the movement because they’re pretty sure none of this jail time and what not is worth it. Not to mention they have the pesky little faith in themselves that they’ll do well in other ventures. We need more educated people getting in the lime light.
All smart people to report to city hall, smoke out the lobby, get arrested, and continue to rant in an oraganized way. We’ll need to be about 100,000 people strong and have a bunch of old ass people with money. Go!
-Mr. Anderson
man FUCK the police and the goddamn horse they rode in on. The reason why these kids are makin money is because it’s illegal. They should stop worrying about these kids making a quick buck from sellin pot and worry about the real problem OXYCONTIN.
Stop the drug trade? Haha. Cmon this is a way to make money….. Where do you think all the money siezed on all of these drug raids go? Legalize Marijuana. Seriously. All of those who are in favor of the legaization of marijuana need to take a stand and go straight to the top and end this battle. It can be done…. We’ve seen just how vulnerable the American Govt really is. After all.. We are all human. I like the statistics guys… but statistics are irrelivant. Its all B.S. Free David Cole.
Cops can’t even keep drugs out of prison…do you honestly think they can stop the drug trade outside of prison (an institution that they completely control)?
My boy just picked up fire at UCF. F U pigs.
well thats what smart people think, unfortunately there arent too many of them in our government.
also, 7% is a gross underestimate. probably be like 15% at least. tobacco gets taxed huge amounts, thats why it costs $6 for 85c of tobacco.
I would love to know where to get the public records for this entire ordeal in regards to cost. Can you imagine having records of a couple of busts with the government’s own information comparing the overall cost of a bust to the amount of profit from tax on the same product? Not just the potential tax profit of this one bust, I mean Cole was flipping $90,000 a week so they say… $90,000 at lets say 7% tax rate for funzies, 50 weeks a year (we’ll give him a two week vacation) comes out to be $315,000 per year going to uncle sam.
This is one person!
I don’t know the exact numbers but Cali. netted something like $20 billion in 2008 or something. It was like $7 billion they made in taxes and $13 billion they saved in drug busts, prosecution, etc.
The time will come. The status quo is a boulder that takes a lot of people, movement, and noise to budge.
-Mr. Anderson
FREE DAVID COLE
FREE DAVID COLE…
Refine Laws for a non violent drug that would stand to help the economy, Fuck the Big Pharmaceutical Industry! LEGALIZE + TAX = PROFIT = (BENEFIT & PEACE)
This was a faulty investigation and the evidence is questionable. The police are liars and the media is covering it up.
this is a joke. i know 100s of kids that get their dope from different people. Not everyone knows eachother. These are my friends and this will not even effect me besides not being able to see them anymore. The chronic will still be plentiful in G-ville Orlando Tampa hub don’t u worry.
It is a shame that these good kids might be doing prison time. the ones i knew were cool and nice as could be.
They say they found 500-600 lbs of pot? where are the pictures of it? I see maybe 20 or so stacked on the table next to some hunting rifles david cole had legal registered. Can you guys look into this sensational journalism because i called amy edwards at orlandosentinel about her article and she says she saw the 500 lbs in a back room. psh right, like the cops wouldnt want all that for a photo op. i asked her to follow up on it and she said that she had other deadlines to meet.
6 months of wasted taxpayer money. Im not a student of ucf but i hope you guys do some rallying on campus for these guys. Even channel 9s report says that 30% or 15k students there smoke weed. that doesnt even account for full sail, scc, and valencia. When is enough enough. This is seriously getting disgusting.
I agree with a lot of the comments on this. I graduated w/ many of the people arrested in this operation including David Cole (the kingpen). America’s law makers are wasting tax dollars to try and rid the nation of something that can grow out of the ground naturally. The medicinal opportunities are very apparent to those who have researched. California has realized this and has wised up. Why can’t we go federal w/ these laws. If it’s such a bad drug, why are there no recorded deaths on file for marijuana. Alcohol impairs your senses and motor functions and is legal in the US, while mj impairs nearly nothing and is treated like something dangerous and deadly. Law enforcement claims that violence stems from mj, however, that violence would disappear if it was able to be obtained like cigs. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from cigarettes everyday, yet our government finds it ok for them to be sold. Our government is uneducated, contradictive, and selfish. When will the nonsense end on this harmless plant. LEGALIZE, TAX, PROFIT!!!
stoked that lafata got busted!!!!! total douchebag galore!!!
HEEEEEEY…………… SMOKE WEED EVERYDAY!
This isn’t really going to affect anything. All it’s done is reduce competition a little bit, jacking up the prices because the demand will still be there. Simple economics, supply and demand. Lower supply only increases the cost. The only way to really make an impact is if you completely get rid of it, which you can’t.
Knowing Chase for a semester personally, dude was a scumbag from the first time I saw him.
what a wonderful way to spend our tax dollars…….
simple solution….stop wasting money on “war on drugs” to rid the world of pot dealers and that b.s. How much cocaine and meth could have been taken off the streets with this 6 month investigation wtf are they thinking not to mention the salaries and expenses they wasted in this operation that could have been saved had it been already legal as it is so many other places in our nation. I do however condone this drug bust, anyone who invests in mj strictly to take advantage of others and sell at extreme profits belong behind bars for fraud. solution legalize and tax, it would boost the economy, with the millions it would bring in that could be used for countless other financing opportunities, and drive the price down saving the average american a sh*t ton of money so we can stop dealing with these saps that don’t want to work a day in their life. I’m sorry but after i get off work i’d like to relax for an hour or too with a nice clean high. As far as it coming from CA….good. the better the mj the less you have to smoke saving millions of American people the hazard of smoking MOOOORREEE dirt cheap weed just to get high not to mention the tar (although slightly worse than cigarettes but without all the POISON). LEGALIZE…………………only a matter of time.
Realistic Republican: Cool man, glad to see you are so “enlightened”….The reason why people hate this shit is because of people like you who take a condescending attitude towards anyone who opposes marijuana. You are correct, it mellows you, it makes you chill etc… But to say it furthers a common good, gimme a fucking break. A common good? Yeah, I love sitting around and being stoned as much as the next guy, but I am not going to glorify it as something that is “striving” towards a common good. the fact is, it’s an intoxicant, it alters you, it “fucks” you up, if you will, people like marijuana for the same reason they like alcohol, it makes them feel different, it makes them feel better. Me, I come home from a long day and smoke a joint, yeah it’s good, yeah, I like it, but I am not going to sit here and say it is some great thing at all. It is in fact an intoxicant, and introducing another intoxicant to a society that is already obsessed with them is going to cause controversy, no matter how much you like it. There is no benefit from deriding others, it just leads to further division. Try to fucking educate without being condescending, it might further your goal….man.
That was my buddys dad! Sucks
the pot supply will never go dry around here! All the dope boys around the UCF area get the fire from down in south Florida and bring it back up to Orlando. Most of the supply around here does not come from California or out of the state. This will not effect supply around here and UCF will still be able to get the fire! No Worries..the Feds cant stop us…they are a bunch of clowns who have no common sense to realize all the tax revenue to be making from this cash crop!
Steven stop being so closed minded and ignorant. If mj causes “delinquent activity”, McDonald’s should be shut down for making people fat. People have the freedom to eat where they want. The freedom of thought,mind, body, and spirit is the whole basis of our constitution. Everyone in modern society has an equal opportunity and this should not be limited by the government fighting a war on durgs. If someone wants to do something that is not physically harming, damaging, or threatening to another person in a lethal way, what is the problem? What is wrong with doing what you please in a closed environment in the privacy of ones home? I’m absolutely disgusted by cigarettes, their smell, their look and choose to avoid inhaling 2nd hand smoke when possible. Do I have a panic attack and freak out yelling and screaming at the person to stop smoking…NO…I simply walk past and mind my own business. I have no place to judge them on their personal choices as do they with mine. Smoking in someones face and blowing it in their direction causing them to feel discomfort should be the ticketable offense if any not jailtime. People need to stop power tripping and get over the fact that a community of individuals striving for a better good is the ideal environment, not the greed to do whatever is necessary to get to the top plagued by the American ideologies that the televison, radio, and newspaper actually give factual information. Its funny to me how people blindly believe anything that a shiny piece of plastic tells them without looking into sources and background information. This simple basic natural law of peace should be applied to everything in thought. The laws on mj should be the same as alcohol/ tobacco products. Makes no sense to fight the fact that people enjoy the relaxed feelings associated with our bodies natural ability to have functioning canabanoid receptors. Stop the war on drugs, regulate and tax mj, fund education and bail out the US in a downward spiraling economy doomed by the misfortunes of greed at the top of the food chain. Case in point: MJ is the #1 cash crop in America and its illegal. Why would the government not take advantage of this simple fact and stop the war on drugs. The LD50 is so far above the human capability of ingesting or smoking it that makes it literally impossible to overdose. I hope the decriminalization efforts occurring in a few states spread like wildfires.
what are you like 40? how dumb can u be to think that anyone is ‘on the way to ridding the world of marijuana’..HAHAH…no ones ever been able to remove something that people want. if theres a business to remove something, theres an underground business to keep it.
To ruin someone’s life just for selling a product that helps people relax is the real crime. When will the system implode? No better time than now.
Good. We’re finally on the way to ridding the world of marijuana. Hopefully in the future this horrible, delinquent-making drug will be completely eradicated. Anyone caught doing it now completely deserves whatever punishment they receive. Murderers, not tokers?! PSHAW. BOTH and all need to be locked up.
Smoke di ‘erb / Give thanks n praise!
legalize it, time to recognize it
I find it really sad to believe that there are only 4 comments on this actual piece of news, compared to over 50 comments on the b.s. presidential campaign propaganda stories.
Come on people this is a hot topic now and nobody should be getting arrested for taking something that does no harm to their bodies. Legalize marijuana and fund our schools which are getting budget cuts as Im typing this. Legalize industrial hemp so we can improve our environment and our economy. Legalize medical marijuana so people can get the natural medicine that they deserve.
EVERYBODY needs to be help stop this war against marijuana! Innocent people should not be getting arrested, police should be focused on arresting murders and not tokers!
war on drugs = USA’s biggest waste of money ever, period. There is not one legitimate reason for marijuana to be illegal. I would love for someone to show one unbiased scientific fact supporting marijuana to be illegal. It is safer then alcohol and tobacco. Hell, you have a better chance of dieing from drinking to much coffee.
This won’t even dent the supply of bud around UCF. No where near it.
Legalize it, this is ridiculous
But we still have Miami!