Police in Florida say that a tip from the U.S. Postal Service led to one of the most significant drug cases in Hernando County history. According to media reports, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation after a postal worker intercepted a package containing bags of heroin that had been mailed to a 46-year-old man. The man has been charged with drug possession and trafficking, and he faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The Hernando County Sheriff said in a press conference that the man was taken into custody after an eight-month investigation. More than 5,500 packages of heroin were recovered by deputies, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi became involved when it was revealed that an image of President Donald Trump’s face was printed on many of the packages. Reports indicate that the man would travel to a city in the Northeast to buy heroin and then use the postal service to mail the drugs back to his Spring Hill residence.
Bondi praised Trump’s tough-on-crime stance during the press conference, and she said that the man had made a major mistake by placing the president’s image on packages of illegal drugs. The man’s bail bond has been set at $75,000, and he remains in custody according to reports.
Police often stand behind tables covered in large amounts of seized drugs when these cases are reported to the media, but recovering cocaine, heroin or other illegal narcotics and proving a criminal case beyond reasonable doubt are two very different things. In these situations, experienced criminal defense attorneys may study the behavior of the police officers involved carefully, and they could seek to have drug trafficking charges dismissed if protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution appear to have been violated.
