- November 21, 2024
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Special Agent in Charge Sherri Onks for the FBI's Jacksonville office and Roger B. Handberg, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Photo by Sierra Williams.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly speaks at joint press conference alongside Sherri Onks, special agent in charge at the FBI's Jacksonville office, Roger B. Handberg, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and Marcus Anderson, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's Orlando office. Photo by Sierra Williams.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly speaks at joint press conference alongside Roger B. Handberg, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida and special agents from the FBI and DEA. Photo by Sierra Williams.
Roger B. Handberg, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Photo by Sierra Williams.
Nine people have been indicted in a cross-country drug trafficking investigation spanning from Arizona to Flagler County.
Eight of the nine have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking conspiracy. The investigation — called Operation: Ice Man — began with Volusia County’s Investigative team in early 2022 and involved six agencies, including the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, over 15 months.
“This is the largest drug trafficking investigation in the history of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Operation: Ice Man is proof that while you might not see it, or know what we are doing, we are always working to get to the top tier of the drug trafficking organizations.”
This is the largest drug trafficking investigation in the history of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. — Rick Staly, Flagler County Sheriff
Staly held a joint press conference at the FCSO’s Operations Center May 8 with Sherri Onks, special agent in charge at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Jacksonville field office; and Roger B. Handberg, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida.
Agents seized fentanyl, cocaine and meth during their investigation, Handberg said. Those are the first, second and third-leading drugs in drug-caused deaths in Florida.
“Investigators estimate that this drug trafficking organization has shipped over 300 kilograms of drugs into Flagler County and Volusia County since 2021,” Handberg said. “But not any longer.”
On Oct. 31, law enforcement agents served warrants at six locations in Palm Coast, Bunnell and Daytona Beach, seizing 98 pounds of meth and 6 pounds of cocaine. One man’s home in Bunnell also contained nine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Staly said.
The drugs have a street value of $2.9 million, he said.
The indictments were for two men from Phoenix, Arizona; two people from Palm Coast, one person from Green Cove Springs and three family members from Bunnell.
The Flagler County arrestees were 55-year-old Tryone James Jones and 20-year-old Zara Adriana Mascarella, of Palm Coast; and 48-year-old Alfred Lamar Shavers, 23-year-old Camarie Dontre Shavers and 26-year-old Alfred Lamar Shavers Jr., of Bunnell. All were arrested May 5-6 and identified as drug distributors in Central Florida, Staly said.
“A father and his two sons,” Staly said of the Shavers. “Obviously, the poison-peddler apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
The FCSO coordinated with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office, the DeLand Police Department and the Daytona Police Department on the case.
The agencies were investigating an organization trafficking narcotics from Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles, California to Central Florida, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
The organization used commercial trucks to ship the drugs from Mexico to the United States, Handberg said.
The Green Cove Springs man — Jimmie Lee Bizzell, 53 — was one of the commercial truck drivers, according to the press release.
On April 25, the two Arizona men — Luis Miguel Hernandez, 36, and Saul Sandoval, 39 — were arrested.
Sandoval was arrested in Phoenix. Officers found 2.46 pounds of fentanyl pills, 18 firearms, four firearm suppressors and more than $5,000 in cash in his home.
“These pills had a street value of over $600,000, and the potential of killing 670,000 people,” Staly said.
Hernandez was arrested in Los Angeles during a drug trafficking deal for almost 80 pounds of meth, Handberg said.
These pills had a street value of over $600,000 and the potential of killing 670,000 people. — Rick Staly, Flagler County Sheriff
Hernandez, Sandoval, Jones, Mascarella, Bizzell and Alfred Shavers Sr. could all face life in prison, according to the press release. Shavers’ two sons face up to 40 years in prison.
The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation, according to the press release. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John M. Gardella.
The case is still under investigation, Handberg said.
“Today proves that our team and our partners are relentless in getting drug traffickers, at all levels, off the street,” Staly said. “These cases take time, but we are all relentless.”
