POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a news conference Friday morning to discuss a drug-trafficking investigation that’s resulted in four arrests and the seizure of 14 kilograms of fentanyl, what Judd claims is enough to kill a third of all Floridians.
According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation began in August 2023.
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With help from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol and the State Attorney’s Office of the 10th Judicial Circuit, the sheriff’s office’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force disrupted a total of 14 kilograms of fentanyl in the investigation — what the agency called “the largest seizure of fentanyl in Polk County history” — representing the haul from three separate shipments headed to Polk County from a Mexican drug trafficking organization that operates in several states, including Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, a news release states.
On April 22, Polk County deputies arrested Maria Machuca-Alderete, 29; Maria Guadalupe-Garcia, 48; Sergio Garcia, 52; and Pedro Rodriguez-Correa, 31, after the four arrived at a pre-determined location in Polk County to allegedly deliver the largest of the three shipments, some 11 kilograms of fentanyl in a Huggies diaper box.
“Maria Guadalupe said she didn’t know anything about any dope, she was just delivering this box of Huggies from California. Now, when is the last time that you picked up a box of Huggies that weighed 27 pounds?” Judd said. “Maria, we don’t have any Huggies in the county jail, but we have you there and that’s where you’re going to stay until our state attorney and his prosecutors lock you up for a very long time.”
The four who were arrested face the following charges:
- Maria Machuca-Alderete
- Trafficking fentanyl over 28 grams, maintaining a vehicle to traffic drugs, four counts of resisting an officer with violence, four counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and possession of drug paraphernalia.
- Maria Guadalupe-Garcia
- Trafficking fentanyl over 28 grams, maintaining a vehicle to traffic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
- Sergio Garcia
- Trafficking fentanyl over 28 grams, maintaining a vehicle to traffic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
- Pedro Rodriguez-Correa
- Trafficking fentanyl over 28 grams, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Garcia and Guadalupe-Garcia, husband and wife, are retired U.S. military servicemembers from California, Judd added, while Machuca-Alderete and Rodriguez-Correa were described as being in the U.S. illegally and now have holds placed on them for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A fifth suspect is wanted in the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office, who is to face charges of trafficking fentanyl over 28 grams, maintaining a vehicle to traffic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
During Friday’s conference, Judd was joined by Attorney General Ashley Moody, State Attorney Brian Haas of the 10th Judicial Circuit and FDLE Assistant Commissioner Lee Massie.
Watch the news conference again in the video player below:
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