FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Several Floridians were arrested and indicted in a year-long drug trafficking investigation called “Operation Ice Man,” according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation began in early 2022 and included numerous law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Flagler and Volusia County Sheriff Offices, DeLand and Daytona police departments.
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According to FCSO, the investigation involved transporting methamphetamine and cocaine from Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles, California to Central Florida.
Since 2021, an estimated 300 kilograms of illegal narcotics including cocaine, meth and fentanyl were brought directly into Flagler and Volusia counties.
“We know that the amount of fentanyl in the pills alone that were seized had the potential to kill more than 600,000 people,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said.
Federal agents said the people involved used commercial trucks to smuggle drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles, California, and Phoenix, Arizona then directly to Florida.
“This is the largest drug trafficking investigation in the history of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office,” Staly said.
Six of the eight individuals arrested are from Palm Coast, Green Cove Springs, and Bunnell.
Camarie Shavers, 23, Alfred Shavers Jr., 26, and Alfred Shavers Sr., 48, were identified by investigators as a crime family in Bunnell that is accused of distributing drugs in Central Florida.
Luis Hernandez, 36, and Saul Sandoval, 39, both from Phoenix, were also identified as the people who allegedly helped bring the drugs into the United States.
“Those two are alleged to have brokered deals with other co-conspirators located in Mexico who would send the drugs across the border for Sandoval and Hernandez to sell. Large quantities of those drugs were then shipped to Flagler County and Volusia County where other conspirators in this area would distribute them,” Federal Prosecutor Roger Handberg said.
The alleged co-conspirators were identified as Jimmie Bizzell, 53, of Green Cove Springs, Zara Mascarella, 23, of Palm Coast, and Tyrone Jones, 55, of Palm Coast.
When the DEA and FBI agents conducted raids in Flagler County, Los Angeles and Phoenix, they recovered large amounts of illegal narcotics, cash and illegal firearms and ammunition.