JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A 68-year-old mother and her 32-year-old son are facing felony drug charges after investigators disrupted a drug trafficking pipeline that brought illegal drugs to Jacksonville Beach.
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The pipeline brought illegal Delta 9 THC products disguised as candy as well as hallucinogenic edibles to Jacksonville Beach.
Heidi Huettinger of Jacksonville Beach and her son, John Klimenko of Northern California have been identified by investigators as members of the Klimenko drug trafficking organization (DTO).
Huettinger is a former long-time Jacksonville Beach city clerk who was fired in 2010 after the city manager concluded she abused her position.
DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Jacksonville Office, Mike Dubet said this was an unusual DTO.
“You’ll see families involved where brothers or siblings are involved together in drug trafficking, but a mother and son are uncommon,” Dubet said.
The seized drugs include 1,000 Delta 9 THC vapor cartridges, 400 Delta 9 THC chocolate bars, two pounds of raw marijuana, and Delta 9 THC hard candy.
“It’s created to look like candy so it’s marketing younger folks,” Dubet said.
Investigators said all the Delta 9 evidence contained more than 0.3% of THC which made them extremely potent and illegal under federal law.
Thirty grams of Psilocybin gummies were also seized. Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic drug commonly known on the street as magic mushrooms.
Authorities said the hallucinogenic effects are so strong that a person can’t distinguish between fantasy and reality.
“Folks can have reoccurrences months and years later from taking this stuff,” Dubet said.
Investigators said the months-long investigation revealed the Klimenko DTO used the U.S. Postal Service to traffic the drugs from Northern California to Ponte Vedra and then to Jacksonville Beach.
Investigators said a 15-pound package with a fictitious name was mailed from California to a home in Ponte Vedra.
The package was never dropped off at the home, just like other packages destined for different addresses.
Investigators determined that a contract postal worker at a Ponte Vedra postal facility whose name is being withheld was part of the trafficking operation.
Law enforcement surveillance revealed the postal worker would scan the packages as delivered to the intended address. But investigators said the worker would wait until the end of his shift to drop off the packages at Huettinger’s Jacksonville Beach home, where investigators said they collected more drug evidence.
Huettinger was pulled over with four of the postal packages in the car. A K9 alerted authorities of the packages.
Federal agents said once she was confronted with evidence, Huettinger started cooperating. They said she distributed the drugs to customers after her son would send customers her way.
Investigators said she sold the drugs on the street. If convicted of the Psilocybin trafficking charge, Huettinger could face up to 30 years in prison.