A 30-year-old Florida man is facing decades behind bars after allegedly approaching an undercover Polk County deputy to help him cook and distribute methamphetamine with a street value of approximately $600,000. The man has been booked into the Polk County Jail on two counts of trafficking methamphetamine along with motor vehicle and drug paraphernalia charges. If he is convicted, he would be sent to prison for 22 years under current minimum mandatory sentencing laws.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the methamphetamine was produced in Mexico and smuggled into the United States using three vases. Police say that glass tiles were placed on the vases over liquid methamphetamine that had gelled into a paste. Law enforcement became involved when the man allegedly approached a deputy to help him convert the meth paste into a more salable version of the drug.
Deputies then installed hidden cameras and microphones outside the man’s residence, and they are said to have taken him into custody after allegedly observing him entering the property carrying the three vases in a duffel bag. The vases yielded 10 kilograms of methamphetamine according to reports, and a further 110 grams of the drug and two fragments of broken pottery are said to have been found in the man’s possession.
Experienced criminal defense attorneys may argue vigorously for drug trafficking charges to be reduced or dropped when their clients face years in prison due to minimum mandatory sentencing laws. Drug cases often hinge on the admissibility of seized contraband, and defense attorneys may urge prosecutors to show leniency when police officers may have violated protections against unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. Attorneys may also advise their clients to say nothing to police unless a lawyer is present even when the evidence against them seems overwhelming.
