The Polk County sheriff’s office along with the U.S. Border Control and other federal agencies have seized 120 gallons of liquid methamphetamine and other narcotics as a result of a transnational investigation named “Operation Dirty Water.” Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County says that the operation was run by “mastermind” Brian Stanton out of the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta with connection to the Juarez drug cartel in Mexico.
Operation Dirty Water began in January after a shipment from Ontario, Canada containing 2,500 Xanax pills was intercepted by law enforcement on its way to Winter Haven, Florida where detectives then determined and arrested Amber Cayson as the individual who was supposed to receive the shipment. In her home, law enforcement officials found 24 pounds worth of marijuana edibles, 2.4 pounds of marijuana flower, and a pound of methamphetamine.
After the investigation revealed Brian Stanton as the ring leader of the drug operation, undercover detectives worked with Stanton to set up the delivery for 26 pounds of meth to Polk County to establish how the drugs were crossing state lines. The delivery was made to undercover officials on March 13th in Lakeland, Florida, by Georgia resident, Jennifer Meers, who was eventually arrested in Atlanta after a second shipment of 35 pounds was set up by Homeland Security on March 30th. Meers told officials that she was paid $500 per kilogram of meth (approximately 2.2 pounds).
Operation Dirty Water then led investigators to find three meth labs in Georgia in connection with the drug operation that allowed law enforcement officials to seize 1,416 additional pounds of methamphetamine and the arrest of three more individuals involved in the production and distribution of the drug. Seventy-seven pounds of meth were found in the possession of Isidoro Palacious who also ran a cockfighting ring, while the other two arrest involved 30-year-old Crescencio Ornelas-Loza and 50-year-old Luis Ornelas-Martinez, both illegal immigrants.
Along with drugs, law enforcement confiscated 20 firearms in Ornelas-Loza’s residence, three of which were stolen. The arrest of Ornelas-Loza also led investigators to find the underground tunnels where the drugs were stored before being distributed.
Operation Dirty Water is the largest drug bust in Polk County history. Of the drugs seized by Operation Dirty Water, the 1,500 pounds of meth has the approximate street value of $53.8 million, the marijuana edibles and flower account for an approximate street value of $15,480 combined, while the 2,500 Xanax pills have an estimated street value of $25,000, totaling the street value of the operation at $53,854,640.
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Casey Owens is a writer at The Florida Capital Star. Email tips to [email protected].
