JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A North Florida case involving drugs, danger and drama will be in the international spotlight starting Friday.
Netflix's newest original documentary, "The Legend of Cocaine Island," is about an Alachua County man who tried to dig up and smuggle more than $1 million worth of drugs into North Florida.
Rodney Hyden was arrested in St. Augustine by federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations teams based in Jacksonville. He was convicted but was released from jail 60 days later. He tells his story to the world, playing himself in the Netflix documentary.
The rendition of the true story already made waves at the Tribeca Film Festival. Now, its producers hope the film will be the next big hit on Netflix.
"Northern fairy tales start off with, 'Once upon a time.' But Southern fairy tales start off, 'Y'all aren't gonna believe this s***,'" the trailer begins.
It's an unbelievable story set on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra and in North Florida.
"Cocaine -- over 70 pounds -- just waiting for someone to dig it up," the trailer continues.
If the trailer doesn't lure you in, the fact that's it's based on a real case where the main characters are from the Northeast Florida area just might. The News4Jax I-TEAM sat down with one of the Jacksonville ICE agents who cracked the case, before the documentary hits Netflix on Friday.
"I have never had a case this bizarre," said Special Agent Ryan McEnany, with ICE Homeland Security Investigations. "This is the most unusual case I've ever had."
The I-TEAM can't show McEnany's face because he still works undercover, but the agent spent months investigating a tip from Alachua County when a neighbor said Hyden was planning to smuggle 32 kilos of cocaine into the area.
"It would've been worth about $1.1 million," McEnany said.
Hyden, a builder in Gainesville, got the idea when a neighbor told him he had found and buried a bale of cocaine two decades ago. The two made a detailed map and Hyden made it his mission to bring it back.
"I'm a dreamer, but I'm not a greedy person. I wanted to take care of my family," Hyden says in the trailer.
He’s no Pablo Escobar, but he found a plane and a pilot and made a plan. But the problem for him is that he's talking to an undercover federal agent who was tipped off about the scheme.
"Everyone involved thought the whole time, 'Somebody is going to make a movie out of this one day,'" McEnany said. "And they did."
McEnany and the other undercover operative got a hold of the treasure map and found the stash buried 3 feet under the sand.
"It was mapped out perfectly," McEnany said. "The fence line was mapped out. The measurements were perfect."
They met with Hyden in Jacksonville and arranged to drop it off to him in St. Augustine. That's when the fairy tale ended for Hyden. He was arrested and convicted.
"I was talking that smack, that drug talk," Hyden says in the trailer.
McEnany and other investigators on the case are also in the film, even working side by side with the man they captured.
"It was interesting," McEnany told the I-TEAM. "I’ve never met somebody outside of a courtroom that I’ve put in jail before, after everything was said and done. But it was good. I don’t have any hard feelings toward him and he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward me. And I’m just doing my job."
Hyden still lives in Alachua County. He did community service, building homes for Habitat for Humanity to pay his dues. And the ICE agents who arrested him are still working in the Jacksonville area. It's safe to say they're all excited to have their hard work highlighted for the world to see.
Click here or the player below to watch the trailer.