REPLAY: Florida AG Uthmeier, Sheriff Gualtieri Announce Dismantling of Sinaloa Cartel Cocaine Pipeline

Hi, good morning everybody. It's great to be here in Tampa this morning. I'm joined by Sheriff Bob Goltiari from Pinellas County, Ryan Shaw, who's special counsel in our Office of Statewide Prosecution. We also have Brian Sarabia, a prosecutor with the 6th Judicial Circuit, Bruce Bartlett, who's cross-worn working with us on the important case I'm about to address. Today we're here to announce that we have dismantled an entire drug trafficking organization that ties to the Sinaloa Cartel out of Mexico. What began in July as an initial seizure of about 60 kilos of cocaine and initial arrests didn't stop there. That in and of itself would have been a major seizure for the Tampa Bay area, but we didn't stop there. The sheriff's team and investigators, our prosecutors, FDLE, brave law enforcement did what they did best, do best. They kept investigating. They kept following leads. They kept asking questions. They kept hunting down more evidence of criminal activity. Ultimately, it would take a team of investigators all the way to Texas and the southern border, where the cartel was shipping thousands and thousands of kilos of cocaine up into the United States, flooding the Tampa Bay market. So what started as an initial seizure, a decent case turned into a dismantling of the entire stream of cocaine coming into this region from that cartel. So today we're here to announce that we've made 10 arrests, including one of the cartel's top bosses. These people are going to go away for a very long time. We're going to be bringing charges for racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. These go along with some of the initial trafficking charges that were filed back in the summer, and leads may continue and more arrests may be announced soon. But the people of Tampa Bay should really feel safer knowing that one of the largest drug operations in this region, in our history of this region, has been taken down, and I think the sheriff can say a little bit more to that. So it's been an honor to work for the sheriff and his team on this. He's done a lot of drug cases in his day and knows what he's doing, so it was fulfilling, I think, for our prosecutors to get to work side-by-side his team of professionals as they do what they do best, and that is keep Florida safe. Over the last year and a half, we've doubled our prosecution caseload on the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Our drug trafficking prosecutions are up threefold. At the end of the day, our conviction rate is up over 50%. percent. That's because of the great work that Ryan and our team of prosecutors do every single day. These aren't the highest paying jobs in the world. They're not nine to five jobs. They probably work as much if not more than a lot of private sector lawyers. But it's a calling. It's a passion. Every day they take great pride in prosecuting to the fullest the cases that our brave law enforcement bring in. When our sheriff's deputies, our cops in this state, when they put their lives on the line when they go out and take down some of the most dangerous criminals in this country. They know that here in Florida, it's not in vain. We will prosecute, we will prosecute it to the fullest. So major dismantling of a large drug cartel network here in the Tampa Bay area. One of the biggest takedowns in this region's history. We're not gonna stop there. We'll we'll get right back to work. I told the team, you know, maybe you guys need to take a vacation now and no, no, they're ready for the next case. So with that, I'm gonna let Ryan talk about some of the more details of this takedown, the prosecution, the charges, and then we'll let the sheriff round this out here. So thank you, Ryan. Thank you, General. I appreciate it and appreciate the introduction. Again, my name is Ryan Shaw with the Office of Statewide Prosecution. I'm Special Counsel to the Attorney General on drug trafficking organizations and racketeering here in the state of Florida. It's been my honor to be able to be part of this team. The Narcotics Unit with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from the takedown on July 11th that involved one of the largest seizures in Tampa Bay, 60 kilos of cocaine, the way that it was being distributed, the way that it was being transported all the way from Texas. Very rarely will you get to see a case that gets to be prosecuted and brought before all of you that encapsulates an entire group from the people that are bringing in across the border to the people that are then meeting in El Paso for a distribution network where they're then coordinating with commercial truck drivers and semi-trucks and loading these drugs into different teams, being smart enough to try and separate the money flow and the drug flow to the state. All of this was an effort to not get caught. All of this was an effort to try and separate the people at the top from the liability of the law. And so it's really just great police work. That's what this was. That's why this is happening. From the very beginning, working with this team was just so very special. The commitment from the sheriff, from Pinellas County Sheriff's Office was just, it was really something. For them to have our back, to be able to put a team to go to El Paso, for FDLE to put the resources, to also put together an agent to be able to go out there with them, it really was a great opportunity. As far as the case goes, you know, beginning to end, we've got it. From the number two, the guy who was actually trusted to come across the border to bring these drugs into the United States, Eric Manuel Gomez Tapia, aka Canelo, he was bringing those drugs over. That was the one they actually trusted to do that. They'd get to El Paso, where they would deal with a logistics coordinator, who now also has got a $10 million bond. In addition to Canelo, who's the one bringing over the drugs, he's got that $30 million bond. And so then he'd meet with Jorge, they would ultimately set up, like I said, the truck driver team and the semis, load them all up, and they'd make their stops across the country, all the way down here to Tampa Bay. This flow of drugs that we can prove, that we'll present to a jury, that we're able to show you all, from just December of 25 to July of 26, we're talking thousands of kilos were flowing into this area. All of that is now stopped. These organizations do not want to get caught. These are not street level dealers which again is important and as you can see we've got you know Daniel Pinellas the actual person who was the not only distributor here receiver of these drugs here in Tampa Bay but was taking a much more larger role in this network and you can see we have his entire distribution team of how he was putting out those drugs to the street putting it in people's hands the people in my community who was using this cocaine using these drugs you know they were dealing with these guys at the bottom but it's working their way up it's you know who are they communicating with who are they you know meeting with who are they talking with where's the money going all that was run down by law enforcement all that was run down through just really you know gumshoe detective work so it's been an honor to work with all of them and that's why you're able to see what is a racketeering charge and conspiracy to racketeer on a lot of these guys all of the people in this case have now got conspiracy RICO charges, all of them were involved in this organization to distribute this cocaine to the people here in Tampa Bay. So again, the seizures that took place with our out-of-state partners, I want to thank El Paso PD and Homeland Security Investigations. They were a great partner on the Texas side. All of our guys that went out there were met with cooperation and a commitment to try and get something done here. So we're very thankful for them. This is what it looks like when different agencies are working together. When Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, El Paso PD, Homeland Security Investigations, when they work together, that's what you see here. Great results. It's my honor to be a statewide prosecutor. I want to thank Brad McVeigh, the statewide prosecutor. I want to thank my chief here in Tampa Bay, Paul Dontaville. But again, thank you to the Commissioner of FDLE. Thank you to Bob Galtieri, the sheriff here in Tampa Bay for his commitment. And thank you to the general who multiple times, you know, we had to consult to kind of, you know, have us help with dealing with our out of state partners. And he was there every step of the way. So I'm very committed and thankful for that. I want to thank Brian Sarabia, our special assistant cross state attorney here from the six. I want to thank Bruce Bartlett for allowing us to have him on this case. He's been a very great help. So that's where we said, 10 individuals charged here in Dade City, Pasco County, two in Pinellas County, 12 people total, 10 charged with conspiracy to RICO, several of those now charged with RICO. We've got just, like I said, astronomical bonds on everybody here. It just kind of shows to me the nature of these crimes and the seriousness of what we're dealing with. Again, thank you all for the opportunity to speak to you and to kind of present to you what we have. And again, thank you to everyone up here for having our back and to all of our law enforcement that can't be up here. You know, this victory, this work belongs to you. Thank you. So for years, literally, law enforcement in the Tampa Bay area has heard the name Daniel Pinellas. And we've received information for a really, really long time about Pinellas and his cocaine trafficking activities. We tried many, many times, again, for a lot of years, but we were never able to make a case against Daniel Pinellas. However, as you've heard earlier this year, and thanks to the really hard and diligent investigative work of our narcotics detectives, we arrested Daniel Pinellas with 60 kilograms of cocaine in his hands. So for those who are unfamiliar, a kilogram is 2.2 pounds, so it's a lot of dope that we were able to put in his hands. And that happened on July 11th of this year when Pinellas received one of his regular cocaine deliveries from the people in Texas. And on that day, we arrested Pinellas, along with several other people who are here from Texas delivering the dope. Daniel Pinellas remains in jail today on a $10.1 million bail, bail, which is astronomically high, as it should be for somebody who is a danger to the community and somebody who is absolutely a flight risk. Pinellas local cocaine distribution organization, as you've heard, was an arm of the Sinaloa cartel based in Juarez, Mexico. Those are unfamiliar. The Sinaloa cartel is a well-known and a very dangerous Mexican drug cartel responsible for importing truly astronomical amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the United States. And the cartel's entry point was through the border in El Paso, Texas. As you heard from the Attorney General, this investigation has continued and continued extensively since these arrests in July. And the evidence that's been put together establishes the racketeering nature of this organization. So in sum, Daniel Pinellas conspired with people from Texas, people from Mexico, to obtain these multiple kilograms of cocaine, at least on a monthly basis, bring them here to the Tampa Bay area, and specifically in Pinellas County, where they permeated the streets with the cocaine. And there's no doubt in my mind that at the end of the day, and I try to be really minimal about this because it's big numbers and we want to be accurate, but I believe the evidence is clearly going to establish that this drug trafficking organization is responsible for putting well over 500 kilograms of cocaine on the streets of Pinellas County. And again, the cocaine trafficking organization operated by transporting the cocaine in concealed tractors. And when we first announced this back in July, we did it in front of these tractors. And they had three of them. The first one was operable. The second two were inoperable. And they would store the cocaine like they were towing it across the country. And you can see there are not even wheels on the back two. And the courts have already ordered the forfeiture and then after we seize them the forfeiture of those vehicles to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. So the bad guys don't own those anymore. Once the cocaine came in and it was delivered to Pinellas, he would then take it to stash houses in Hillsborough County. He would then store it and sell it to these street-level distributors. The money would come back. It would go back to the El Paso people. They'd go back to Texas, and this was a regular cyclical routine that they did all the time. Of course, these tractors were nothing more than props for them to bring the cocaine back and forth. And as you can see from those pictures, that's the 60 kilos of cocaine that we seized back in July. And the estimated street value of that cocaine is about $2.1 million. And when you break it up, it's probably more than that or it is more than that, but that would be considered the wholesale value of it. I've been doing this for a long time, and I can't think of a more significant investigation in the Tampa Bay area. It's significant because of the quantity of the drugs and because of the scope of the organization and the far-reaching nature of the organization back to Texas, but importantly, into the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. We just have not seen that in the past, and it is, again, probably the most significant investigation that's been conducted in the Tampa Bay area by any agency in the last 40 years. The amount of cocaine that Daniel Pinellas was putting on the streets is off the charts, And as he should, is that he faces, Daniel Pinellas is facing a minimum mandatory of life in state prison. And there is no possibility of release because of the significant quantities that are involved. Now, this case, as has been said, I'm going to reiterate it, demonstrates a lot of hard work, a lot of teamwork, and importantly, a lot of tenacity, because this doesn't happen without people putting their nose to the grindstone and just not giving up. So I want to recognize the great work, not only by our detectives, but also the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, State Attorney Bruce Bartlett and the Sixth Judicial Circuit, and of course the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution. I've personally communicated with Attorney General Othmeyer several times over the last few months, and he has totally put the full resources of the Office of Statewide Prosecution on this case. And it's because of those resources by Attorney General Othmeyer that we've been able to charge these additional cartel members from Mexico and Texas, improve the quantities of cocaine that are going to ensure that Daniel Pinellas never again sees the outside of a jail cell. We've seen a lot of dedication of resources over time, but nothing like this before in what the Attorney General and his staff have done. And they deserve a lot of credit and our thanks for their commitment to supporting the police departments and the sheriff's offices across Florida, And we appreciate what Attorney General Altmaier has done and will continue to do for the people of the state of Florida. So, again, it's a big deal. You can see some of the quantities are referenced on here. We seized that 60 kilos of cocaine here in Pinellas. There's another 99 kilos of cocaine that were seized out in Texas. And there are some others and some things we're not going to get into. But suffice it to say that this organization was distributing cocaine not just here in Florida, but in Illinois and Pennsylvania and all these Midwest and Northeast locations as well. So this is, again, the most significant dismantling of a drug trafficking organization that has happened in decades here in the Tampa Bay area. So our thanks to everybody for their work. Thank you, Sheriff. Yeah, getting this cartel network out of the Tampa Bay, Pinellas area is certainly a great result. Our families are safer because of this announcement here today. What we have here in Florida is really special when it comes to our law enforcement team and coordination. Multiple agencies always working together, rowing in the same direction, having shared common goals is why we're able to be so successful. That is why we're at record crime lows. It's why we've taken down more drug traffickers in the last year. It's why we've taken down four times the number of child predators. It's why the fentanyl death rate now is nearing a 60 percent decrease in just a little over a year. And on that note, I also want to add, you know, you can see the dangers, the horrors coming over the southern border through a case like this. and there's still deceptive, you know, undercover efforts to keep flooding our market with illicit narcotics, even when you have a closed border. So you can just imagine, you know, how much more it's amplified when you have an open border. There's a reason why fentanyl encounters in Florida are down 80% in just a year, a little over a year. The closed border is a big, big help there. And then you've got our enhancements the legislature has put forward for drug cases and the all-around priority that our law enforcement agencies have to go take these cases down, prosecute to the fullest, and make sure guys like Daniel and others are in the back, dark corner of a jail cell for as long as possible. So thanks, everybody, for being here. I've got time for a few questions. I do have to run and catch a flight, but if there's a couple questions, we'll take them. Sure. I'll say something, then I'll turn it over to Ryan if he wants to add to it. I mean, it appears it's been in this area for some time, investigations and you know observations began in late 2025 you had the culmination of the seizure and arrest in this past July but ultimately leading to further leads further investigations teams moving across the country ultimately taking down you know one of the top cartel guys and completely dismantling this network so what does it mean for Florida what does it mean for this area it means a lot this is a big deal it's been at least five years five years five years that we've been hearing about ask a question off topic on abortion general I know you recently had an interview where you talked about wanting to eliminate all abortion protections in Florida, I believe about a year or so, is it your hope to go beyond the current six week law banning abortions, would you like to have like zero weeks basically talking about is one where got involved in a surrogacy a same sex couple from France to purchase children from companies, which our strong position is that violates Florida law. We've been investigating multiple cases now where even Chinese nationals are trying to buy thousands and thousands of children from the United States, including companies here in Florida, over the objections of moms who might agree to carry a baby to term and then find out that it's a same-sex couple, a registered sex offender, somebody in China. This is wrong. A lot of the courts have been looking to contract law as a way to try to arbitrate these claims. And we disagree with that. These are human beings. These are children. These are not commodities. So our fight in court is we're going to stand by children. We're going to stand by families. We're going to oppose foreigners, especially in countries of concern, our enemies that want to come over and buy our children here in the United States. So I'm happy for the position we've taken in court. I think this is going to be a continued legal fight going forward as we talk about new technologies and things. But we stand by families. We stand by moms. We're not going to let foreigners try to buy our children. All right. Thanks, everybody.