With St. Lucie County right in the center of Florida, it’s no surprise that last week eight people were arrested and remain in jail on extensive drug trafficking charges. Investigators remain very secretive about the arrests, but they have disclosed that many state and federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI have been working together for 11 months on this bust.

They has been watching the residences on SW Twig Avenue, 400 blocks of North 28th and North 31st and last week they made arrests at each of them. Law enforcement is aware that drugs are manufactured in St. Lucie County, and then easily distributed either north or south across the state. Drug dealers find it easy to move large quantities of drugs, and this investigation was aimed to stop this operation, and it did.

On June 4, these eight people were arrested and are being held under tremendous bail bonds.

• Man from St. Lucie has 61 charges against him, and is being held for $2.75 million bail.
• Terry Bryant, 27, has 30 charges with a $725,000 bail.
• Lashanna Jennings, 32, who has 10 charges and a $607,000 bail.
• Kayla Smith, 20, has 13 charges both drug and solicitation with $120,000 bail.
• Eva Howard, 34 has $110,000 bond on possession.

The remaining four are being held on $210,000 – $338,000 each.

• Cassandra Ali, 50, of Opa-locka.
• Dora Blanc, 49, of North Lauderdale
• Michael Lenard, Fort Pierce
• Anthony Goshay, 39, of North 25th Street.

Since this has been an extensive investigation, only basic information has become available over the past week. During searches, and from arrest records, the drugs that were found included marijuana, heroin, cocaine, hydromorphone and oxycodone, but the list is not complete.

As a St. Lucie Drug Defense Attorney, handling cases like these has allowed me to establish a substantial experience in drug trafficking and prostitution, search and search techniques and other related charges. Because of the location in Florida, Jeffery H. Garland has had extensive experience in drug charges that ranges from simple possession, trafficking, grow houses, meth labs and doctor shopping.

The tremendous bail amounts lead us to believe that there is more going on than what has been reported. As a professional and experienced St. Lucie Drug Defense Lawyer, I will continue to watch this unfold.