MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Authorities say that a 56-year-old man from Miami-Dade led a large group that sold fentanyl in the Florida Keys. He was arrested on Thursday.
Melvin Howard is accused of trafficking fentanyl, conspiring to traffic fentanyl, and using a two-way contact device to help him commit a crime.
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a news release on Friday, “The men and women of the Sheriff’s Office and our federal partners at the DEA did an outstanding job getting this criminal off the street.” “My message is clear: You will be arrested if you sell these dangerous drugs.”
A spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Adam Linhardt, said that Howard was arrested after a 15-month investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division and the Drug Enforcement Administration found that Howard was in charge of distributing about 4.5 kilograms of fentanyl all over Monroe County.
Linhardt said that a warrant was made and that Miami-Dade cops arrested Howard.
Court records show that Howard was still in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Friday. He will be charged in Monroe County.
