INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - Nearly 2,000 fentanyl pills and 5 pounds of cocaine were recovered during the arrest of an Ocala man, after a months-long drug operation, law enforcement authorities said.
The arrest was made in a drug sting outside a Sebastian area Tractor Supply Co. store on County Road 512 Wednesday just before 4 p.m., according to Indian River County Sheriff’s Office records.
“These would’ve ended up on the streets,” said Sheriff Eric Flowers, speaking about the operation in a news conference held at his office Friday. “This is a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of drugs that would’ve ended up on the streets of Indian River County.
“This is a massive bust for us here in Indian River County,” Flowers said.
Alberto Ayala, 52, of Ocala, was charged multiple times with trafficking in cocaine, trafficking in fentanyl and use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.
Sheriff’s Office records show the operation dates back to early May when detectives found a man who said he had “regular access to pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and approximately 1,800 fentanyl pills.”
After the purchase of an ounce of cocaine and 200 fentanyl pills in June, another meeting was arranged for July 24.
During the operation, Ayala arrived to the Tractor Supply store in a white Ford Ranger and walked into the store and then returned to his truck and got a “large black bag” from the truck bed.
“A takedown team” blocked the vehicle from leaving and arrested Ayala.
Inside the bag were “two hard-packed bricks” of cocaine, and hidden inside the engine under an air filter were “two clear baggies containing blue pills” of fentanyl.
“... We had already started to get some questions from the public. They had seen our team do the take down at Tractor Supply," Flowers said after the news conference. "… I wanted to make sure people knew that this is what we’re doing … we’re taking serious drugs off the streets.”
He said another person was considered a “second suspect” and detectives were looking into a possible second arrest.
“These are (for) folks that would buy this thinking … that they’re getting a street version of Oxycodone," Flowers said. "And it’s straight fentanyl … These are pills that would’ve absolutely killed people in our community.”
He said it was part of a larger operation and it “definitely goes back to the border" and "larger shipments coming in.”
Ayala appeared in court Friday and remains in the Indian River County Jail on $500,000 bail, according to court and Sheriff’s Office records.
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Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers. Follow @coreyarwood on X, email corey.arwood@tcpalm.com or call 772-978-2246 .
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 'Massive bust' leads to recovery of about 2,000 fentanyl pills, 5 pounds cocaine; 1 arrest
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