WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Detectives in Polk County recently busted the largest heroin trafficking operation in the countys history, according to Sheriff Grady Judd. In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Judd said his team of detectives arrested 33 people during the 14-month long investigation. Five were taken into custody early Tuesday morning, including Pablo Bergen, the leader of the operation, according to police. You could tell it was his heroin because he always wrapped it in this paper and this is how we found it, said Judd, holding up Bergens trademark paper coated in shiny green and gold. He said his team found Bergens heroin all over the county, but mainly in Lakeland (MY HOME TOWN) . Police believe he received a pound of heroin every month from New York. Bergan, along with the majority of those arrested in the operation, has a decorated criminal history. Hes currently on house arrest after taking a plea deal in 2008 for another drug trafficking offense. It gets better, Judd said. Hes from the Dominican Republic and hes not a citizen of the United States. Perhaps the biggest bombshell of all, Bergen and a handful of others in the operation were on food stamps, according to Judd. In addition to raking in tens of thousands of dollars in drug money, Bergen got $900 every month from the government. You, the hard working taxpayer of this state, were paying him for this, he said. Judd is pushing for harsher penalties for anyone involved in drug trafficking. He said he fully supports the proposed state law that would require drug testing for anyone on food stamps
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 05:11:04 +0000
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