Attorney General Pam Bondi Announces Heroin Trafficker Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
By Space Coast Daily // November 7, 2018
convicted drug dealer charged with trafficking opioids
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution secured the sentencing of a convicted drug dealer charged with trafficking opioids.
Will Samuel Reaves, 46, received a 15-year sentence in the Florida State Prison. The Honorable Brian Iten imposed the sentence on the defendant.
Last month, a Manatee County jury found the defendant guilty of conspiracy to traffic hydromorphone. The charges stem from an investigation into a massive drug trafficking ring spanning multiple Florida counties. Reaves is the latest member of the ring to be sentenced.
In February 2016, Attorney General Bondi’s OSP, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bradenton Police Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial Circuit arrested Reaves and 14 others in connection to the drug trafficking ring. The ring operated out of Manatee County.
During the year’s long investigation, law enforcement seized large amounts of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. The heroin seized had an estimated wholesale value of more than $250,000 and the cocaine had an estimated value of more than $100,000. Investigators also seized firearms, 100 hydromorphone pills and more than $320,000 cash and assets.
Authorities found Reaves in possession of 100 hydromorphone tablets weighing more than 15 grams after meeting with a co-defendant in Bradenton, Florida. Authorities from the DEA, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Bradenton Police Department used surveillance to follow the co-defendant from a pharmacy to the parking lot to meet Reaves, along with another co-defendant.
In September, as part of the drug ring case, Attorney General Bondi’s OSP secured the sentencing of Cedric Houston to 25 years in prison on conspiracy to traffic illegal drugs, trafficking illegal drugs, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, four counts of sale of heroin and three counts of possession of heroin with the intent to sell with 1,000 feet of a church.
In April 2017, a Bradenton jury found another member of the drug ring, Michael Brian Brooks, guilty of conspiracy to traffic heroin of 28 grams or more. The jury sentenced Brooks to 25 years in prison and ordered the defendant to pay a $500,000 fine.
Deputy Chief Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Joseph Spataro prosecuted the cases for the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
For more information about the drug trafficking ring, click here.
For more information regarding the sentencing of Cedric Houston, click here.
For more details on the sentencing of Michael Brian Brooks, click here.
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