JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested two suspects they say are drug traffickers, accused of dealing fentanyl, Methamphetamine and cocaine.
Illegal drugs and narcotics are a concern in the bold city, investigators took hundreds and hundreds of complaints just last year about them throughout neighborhoods.
JSO has a simple message to criminals dealing drugs in the streets of Jacksonville.
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“We’re coming, there’s no way you can hide,” Assistant Chief of Narcotics and Vice, Edwin Cayenne said.
Edwin Cayenne is the Assistant Chief of Narcotics and Vice at JSO. He said in 2022. there were over 900 complaints about illegal narcotics in Jacksonville neighborhoods, adding those complaints primarily came from citizens. The street level narcotics units served over 150 search warrants.
“What we’re providing (in reference to social media posts about drug busts) is just a tip of the iceberg of the actual numbers from what we’re seeing when we conduct these search warrants,” Cayenne said.
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Police recently arrested Radarius Mcgauley and Julius Grant III on several drug trafficking charges. Officers seized 5.2 grams of fentanyl, 383.5 grams of cocaine, 26 grams of Methamphetamine, several other drugs, 5 guns and cash.
Across the country and here in Duval county, there’s a major concern about opioids.
“There’s been a 15 percent increase year-to-year regarding overdose deaths in the city of Jacksonville,” Cayenne said.
Last year, JSO conducted 471 investigations regarding opioid deaths, there’s a unit dedicated to investigating those deaths and primarily from fentanyl.
“The impact we are having is someone is actually now being prosecuted for causing the deaths,” Cayenne said. “We’re trying to put a dent in what we’re seeing, the tragedies the families are experiencing.”
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Cayenne says with drugs, comes violent crime.
“There’s a direct correlation that we believe, and we see between guns, gang, drugs. It all comes back to violence,” he said.
Cayenne added said last year narcotics units made 126 felony arrests ranging from manslaughter up to first degree murder.
“What we have to do is dismantle and disrupt the organization from the top down. If we can cut off the head of the snake, which are the suppliers, and they cannot get drugs into our neighborhood, we believe we are accomplishing our task,” Cayenne said.
Action News Jax asked if there’s been more of a focus taking down accused drug dealers than in the last, Cayenne said it’s the same focus as previous administrations, but added they’re trying to hammer home the Sheriff’s mission of keeping Jacksonville safe for all.
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