PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A Pasco County Sheriff’s Office investigator said a recent joint investigation with the Drug Enforcement Administration led to the most successful heroin arrests conducted in the county.
- Operation targeted alleged source of opioid supply along U.S. 19 in New Port Richey, Holiday
- Seizures totaled $600,000 in street value, or 22,500 doses of drugs
- Reported overdoses in area down from last year at this time
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“This was the most successful, as indicated by the drop in statistics of overdose and overdose deaths, but also just in the sheer number of drugs and cash that were seized,” said Capt. Mike Jenkins, who oversees the narcotics division of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Division.
The investigation was known as "Operation: Now You ‘Z’ Me, Now You Don’t.” It was named for the alleged source of the opioid supply along the U.S.-19 in New Port Richey and Holiday, Edwin “Z” Hill.
According to U.S. District Court documents, the DEA executed search warrants at residences connected to Hill in Holiday and New Port Richey on September 27. Sheriff’s officials said authorities seized $400,000 in cash, eight handguns, 1.5 kilos of cocaine and crack cocaine, and 1.5 kilos of heroin and suspected fentanyl.
That represented a total street value of $600,000 and 22,500 doses of drugs.
Dramatic increase in overdoses prompt change
Jenkins said unlike many communities nationwide, Pasco was relatively immune to the opioid epidemic until last year.
“We were noticing that the number of overdose and overdose deaths were increasingly dramatically,” Jenkins said. “As a result of that, we began to shift our strategy.”
Jenkins said that involved taking a close look in the hardest-hit area, the U.S. 19 corridor in Hudson and New Port Richey.
Along with Hill, alleged distributors William Gaston and Nelson White were arrested following the nine-month long investigation.
Jenkins said the Sheriff’s Office is already seeing results. Statistics show that in the two months following the arrests, 63 overdoses were reported -- down from 93 during the same time period last year, a decrease of 30 percent.
Overdose-related deaths also dropped from a total of 31 in October and November of 2017 to 18 in the same months of this year, a decrease of more than 40 percent.
Much work left to be done
Still, Jenkins said the Sheriff’s Office does not believe it can arrest its way out of the opioid epidemic.
“We are aware that there are many individuals in our community and the surrounding community that could care less about the devastation that is brought as a result of their illegal narcotics activity," Jenkins said. "It is our job, and it’s our commitment, to identify who those individuals are and hold them accountable for their actions."
Jenkins said if convicted on federal charges, Hill faces a possible minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Gaston and White face a possible ten years to life.