TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Attorney General Ashley Moody secured lengthy prison sentences yesterday for two illicit fentanyl traffickers.
During an undercover investigation, an officer received a tip on an illicit drug dealer named Carlito. After further investigation, the officer identified Carlito's last name as Rodriguez. The undercover officer purchased heroin from Rodriguez, who eventually introduced him to the supplier and another fentanyl dealer, Izquierdo. Rodriguez and Izquierdo both sold and delivered more than 28 grams of fentanyl.
A court found defendants Carlos Alberto Jiminez Rodriguez and Antonio Izquierdo guilty of trafficking fentanyl, a first-degree felony, and conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl, also a first-degree felony. Following today's final arguments by Attorney General Ashley Moody's Office of Statewide Prosecution, Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Keith Carsten sentenced Rodriguez and Izquierdo to 25-year prison sentences each.
“If you traffic fentanyl in Florida, you will go to prison for a long time. This synthetic opioid is killing tens of thousands of people across our nation every year, and here in Florida, we will prosecute anyone caught trafficking this deadly substance in our state to the fullest extent of the law. I am proud of my prosecutors for ensuring the traffickers, in this case, will be locked away for a very long time,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody in a press release.
Earlier in June, Governor DeSantis unveiled Florida’s law-enforcement effort to combat immigration-related crimes of human smuggling and human trafficking, drug smuggling and drug trafficking, and transport of illegal weapons. The strike force, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Highway Patrol, and local sheriffs work together to conduct operations throughout the state.
Twenty-eight grams of the lethal substance were seized in the case, enough to kill over 11,000 Floridians.
