Thirteen people of Hispanic origins were arrested due to their alleged connection with an illegal methamphetamine traffic network, after a months-long investigation which concluded with a police operation on Tuesday, March 18, reported Polk County, Florida authorities.
The 13 detainees, alleged members of a drug trafficking network comprised of 13 Latinos, are accused of distributing methamphetamine they introduced to Florida from Mexico, and the states of California and Nevada, according to The Daily Ridge.
A report released by WESH in Orlando, corroborated that said arrests were achieved after a joint investigation between authorities of the counties of Polk and Lake, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Florida's Attorney General's Office.
The investigation began last October and revealed an organization comprised of 25 Latinos who were the biggest distributors of methamphetamine in the counties of Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk and Seminole.
Authorities confirmed that 12 other people, among which is Javier Flores, also known as "El Don", alleged leader of the group, are still at large.
The arrested people were identified as José Luis Ríos, 47; Ma-Concepción López, 38; Luis Villafuerte Rojas, 39; María López Ontiveros (AKA Mariana Alvear), 33; Dioscelina Galaraza-Ozorio, 33; Maria Widdows, 29; and Eugenia López, 29; all of them from Lakeland; Joel Tapia, 30; Debra Tapia, 46; Tara Tapia, 29; from Davenport; Alfredo Ortiz-Hernández, 25, from Chula Vista, California; Joseph Workman, 52, from Orlando and Joseph Angelo Rinaldi, 24, from Clemont.
Furthermore, two minors aged 1 and 3 were put under the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families, according to the NBC's First Coast News.
Blessed by a Voodoo Priest
During the press conference on Thursday, Polk authorities also confirmed that the members of this drug trafficking networks practiced voodoo rituals before starting any criminal operation, according to the NBC affiliate.
Likewise, the police said that the organization had consulted a voodoo priest to get predictions, prophecies and readings on the future of the organization.
During Tuesday's operation, investigators managed to intercept 44 lbs of methamphetamine in a bus stop in Polk City. The "uncut" street value of the methamphetamine is of approximately $2 million dollars.
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