- November 25, 2024
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This article was updated Feb. 20 9:24 a.m. with updated information.
The Flagler County Sheriff's Office arrested 35 people in connection to a year-long undercover investigation called Operation: Heartbreaker.
The 31 were arrested on Feb. 14 as part of 43 arrest warrants served across Flagler County, and another five suspects are still under investigation, Sheriff Rick Staly said during a press conference on Feb. 14. Four FCSO Special Investigations Unit teams were sent to homes in west Flagler County, south Bunnell and Palm Coast to serve the arrest warrants.
Four more individuals turned themselves in by Feb. 16.
The operation was named "Heartbreaker," Staly said, in honor of the Valentine's Day arrests. Several of the 31 arrests were made ahead of the Feb. 14 announcement, he said.
"We were not delivering Valentine's Day chocolate today," Staly said. "Instead, [the suspects are] going to the Green Roof Inn where they're not gonna get any chocolate."
Four guns were seized during the arrests, along side 1.3 kilograms of various drugs and just over $6,400 in cash.
"We will never know how many lives were saved or how many overdoses were prevented during this investigation," Staly said.
Staly said FCSO worked closely with the State Attorney's Office's 7th Judicial Circuit to build the cases. While dozens of suspects were named, Staly said, the suspects were mostly individual operators, and not working as cohesive groups.
Staly said the 14 outstanding suspects are now considered fugitives, while the remaining five have pending warrants. Of all 48 suspects, he said, only one person had never been previously arrested.
The remaining 47 individuals have a combined history of 177 prior felony arrests and 157 misdemeanor arrests during between them. One arrested suspect, William Phillips, has a criminal history spanning 20 years, with over 40 arrests.
The law enforcement teams seized 541 grams of cocaine, 364 grams of cannabis, 226 grams of meth, 142 grams of fentanyls, 55 grams of synthetic cathinones, 27 grams of MDMA and 20 grams of other controlled substances.
Many of the investigations for Operation: Heartbreak began with tips from the local residents, Staly said.
"If you're a poison peddler, I suggest you get the hell out [of Flagler County] and where you go from there, that someone else's problem. But if you're in this county, we're gonna go after you," Staly said. "Our goal is to not only save lives, but make the arrest of the people that are dealing it and bringing it into our community."
