Almost 20,000 doses of heroin seized in major Jacksonville arrest

Jacksonville, FL — Three arrests over the last two years have made a big dent in the amount of heroin getting to the streets of Jacksonville, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Mike Williams came forward Thursday to talk about the latest victory in their effort to fight opioid abuse. JSO has tied three arrests to a supplier- believed to be out of New York City- and they’ve intercepted 19,810 packets of heroin ready for individual sale, as part of the most recent arrest.

“When we talk about the different phases of attacking the opioid crisis, a lot of it obviously has to be focused on the addicts, a lot of it has to be focused on the treatment end of the equation. But we can’t lose sight of the enforcement end, and we’re working on that every day,” Williams says.

The most recent arrest took place about one month ago. JSO says Erik Salgado was caught on I-95 southbound at Edgewood Avenue with the 19,810 packets of heroin, after police got information there would be a shipment of the drug coming in to the city. The drugs have an estimated street value of just under $400,000.

“That’s potentially 19,810 people who could have overdosed by what potentially is in one of those packages,” Williams says.

Eric Bucasas was arrested in February, after a search was conducted on Sharon Lake Drive because of a tip from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. Williams says Bucasas had 49.6 grams of heroin, which was packaged for individual sale in the same manner as the other drugs recovered over the span of this investigation.

Both Bucasas and Salgado are awaiting trial for trafficking heroin, according to Williams. He says, because of the quantity of the drug they were caught with, there could be a mandatory minimum 25 year sentence, if convicted.

The first arrest- Maxwell Beatty- actually occured in November 2015. He was sentenced to a year and a half at Florida State Prison after he was caught with 21.8 grams of heroin, in addition to other drugs at a home on River Forest Drive. The heroin was packaged the same as the other cases, which includes having red lettering on the packaging.

Williams says all three of these cases are believed to be connected- mainly by the supplier- although the three men were not working together. The defendants are not cooperating with police during their ongoing investigation.

JSO continues to investigate, including reaching beyond the state line to try to investigate the supplier. Williams says more arrests could be coming, and they could also bring in federal law enforcement partners.

“We do cases like this every single day, and your day will come,” Williams says, to drug dealers and suppliers still on the streets.

This announcement comes the same day President Trump declared a national public health emergency for opioid abuse. The City of Jacksonville has also taken on a pilot program on treating opioid addiction.

Williams says the city saw 201 opioid overdose deaths in 2015, and 464 in 2016. There were 2,114 opioid overdoses in 2015, and 3411 in 2016. JSO expects both of those figures to be even higher this year.

Williams is urging anyone who is struggling with addiction to get help.

“It’s as deadly as it has ever been to be a heroin addict and drug user in any community, but here in Jacksonville as well,” Williams says.

He says most of the heroin they encounter now is cut with fentanyl. The 19,810 doses recently seized are pending lab testing to determine if they also contain fentanyl.