A joint investigation into a heroin/fentanyl trafficking organization operating across Volusia and Lake counties culminated with a series of arrests and the seizure of significant amounts of fentanyl and the equipment used to process it.
The 5-month multi-jurisdictional investigation into the Drew Daly drug trafficking organization, “Operation Daly Dose,” identified sources of supply altogether responsible for distributing multiple kilograms of fentanyl per month in both counties.
While arrests have been made throughout the investigation, about 2 dozen defendants were taken into custody during a sweep Thursday that included 9 search warrants executed across the DeLand and Orange City areas. The defendants’ various charges include armed trafficking in fentanyl, heroin, meth, cocaine, and MDMA, among many other crimes.
More than 2,300 grams of fentanyl were seized during the investigation, along with about 53 grams of black tar heroin, 138 grams of cocaine, 423 grams of meth, 43 grams of MDMA, 180 opioid pills, 11 firearms (1 stolen), and more than $100,000 in cash and assets.
“There should be no sympathy for what these scumbags are doing to our community,” Sheriff Chitwood said in a Tuesday morning news conference joined by local, state and federal law enforcement partners. “We’re all talking all the time because we all have the same mission,” Sheriff Chitwood added of the partner agencies. “The mission is to keep our communities as safe as possible.”
“The agencies you see represented up here today are going to continue to attack this problem from an enforcement level,” said Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell. “But we need our parents and grandparents out there to talk to their kids and their grandkids about the dangers of this fentanyl.”
In addition to Drew Daly (DOB 6/30/1993), the arrests included his suppliers, Vernon Woodward II (DOB 9/23/1981) of Orange City, and Preston Ingram (DOB 3/6/1987) of DeLand. Woodward’s DeLand home and vehicles were the target of an April 4 shooting where multiple 7.62 x 39mm shell casings were recovered, and a neighbor’s house was hit by a stray bullet.
At least one overdose death in Deltona is under investigation with a potential connection to
the Daly organization. The 2,319.7 grams of fentanyl seized during the operation equate to more than 1.5 million individual doses.
The ring is also connected to a series of organized thefts at Walmart stores, where one of the defendants posed as an employee to steal 75-inch TVs and trade them for narcotics.
The arrests also included Daly’s girlfriend, Lauren Toce, who was responsible for a child who experienced a drug overdose in 2020 and survived after receiving Narcan at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. While Toce was incarcerated for violating probation for child neglect in that case, she conspired with Daly and his brother Patrick Daly in an attempt to smuggle cocaine, Xanax and other contraband into the Volusia County Branch Jail. Their efforts were intercepted.
A full list of those arrested and those still wanted is included at the bottom of this release.
“The fentanyl crisis continues to plague America and Florida is certainly not immune to the massive amounts of Fentanyl flooding into our country,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said following the operation. “This large-scale investigation has led to the dismantling of a fentanyl trafficking network and more than 30 individuals are now behind bars for buying and selling this poison. My statewide prosecutors will aggressively prosecute these cases and we will continue to fight back with our law enforcement partners against this crisis.”
The investigation was a joint effort led by the Volusia Bureau of Investigation (VBI) and the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force (WVNTF) along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
VBI is a Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiative that investigates drug trafficking organizations. VBI is comprised of members from VSO and the DeLand, Edgewater, and Ormond Beach police departments as well as HSI and the FBI.
The WVNTF is a street-level drug task force comprised of members from VSO and DeLand PD. Also assisting throughout the investigation were detectives from the East Volusia Narcotics Task Force (EVNTF), which includes members from VSO along with the New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Ormond Beach, South Daytona, Holly Hill and Port Orange police departments.
The following defendants were arrested as of this writing:
• Vernon Woodward II B/M 09-23-1981 (Orange City)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Trafficking in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Trafficking in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Conspiracy to Manufacture Fentanyl
Manufacture Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Preston Gerald Denard Ingram B/M 03-06-1987 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more
Trafficking in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Trafficking in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Delivery of Cocaine
Manufacture Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Drew Thomas Daly W/M 06-30-1993 (DeLand/Lake County)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Trafficking in Fentanyl (28 Grams or more)
Trafficking in Fentanyl x 3 (4 Grams or more)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Possession of a Conveyance with knowledge that the Conveyance will be used for the
Sale of a Controlled Substance
Conspiracy to Traffic in Stolen Property by Organizing, Planning or Supervising the
Theft of Property
Conspiracy to Introduce Contraband into a County Detention Facility
Possession of Cocaine (VSO 22-20914)
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Terell Devon Ross B/M 11-19-1982 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Armed Trafficking in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Armed Trafficking in Methamphetamine (Over 200 grams)
Armed Trafficking in Cocaine
Armed Trafficking in MDMA
Armed Trafficking in Heroin
Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon
Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device
• Darrell Deandre Woodward B/M 01-11-1983 (Orange City)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Cocaine (28 Grams or More)
Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device
• Lauren Marie Toce W/F 11-17-1987 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Trafficking in Fentanyl (14 grams or more)
Trafficking in Fentanyl (4 grams or more) (2)
Possession of a Conveyance w/ Knowledge It Will Be Used for the Sale of a Controlled
Substance
Conspiracy to Introduce Contraband into a County Detention Facility
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Brian Heath Vestal W/M 10-15-1977 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Cocaine (28 grams or more)
Possession of a Conveyance for the Sale of a Controlled Substance
Possession of a Structure w/ Knowledge It Will Be Used for Trafficking in a Controlled
Substance
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Michelle Lynn Bishop W/F 06-03-1990 (DeBary)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (14 grams or more)
Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device
• Tina Marie Herschman W/F 05-18-1971 (Deltona)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (4 grams or more)
Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device
• Allison Rebeka Gathings W/F 01-26-1995 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Solicitation to Deliver Cocaine
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Courtney Marie Long W/F 07-06-1968 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Purchase Fentanyl
Solicitation to Deliver Cocaine
Conspiracy to Purchase Cocaine
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Michael Patrick Hunt W/M 03-05-1983 (Port Orange)
Purchase of Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Purchase Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Daniel Wayne Morris W/M 09-04-1982 (DeBary)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (4 Grams or More)
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Jessica Paige Jones W/F 04-15-1991 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Purchase Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Katie Lee Jones W/F 04-15-1991 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Danielle L Santopietro W/F 08-11-1982 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Andre Martinez W/M 04-06-1970 (Deltona)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Purchase Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Fernando Scott Lagunas W/M 12-27-1992 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (14 grams or more)
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Brandon Kurtis Williford W/M 01-16-1982 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Solicitation to Purchase Buprenorphine
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Michael Wade Cooper W/M 03-29-1973 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Donald Irvin Longenecker W/M 03-10-1981 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way communications Device
Trafficking in Stolen Property by Organizing, Planning or Supervising the Theft of
Property
Conspiracy to Traffic in Stolen Property by Organizing, Planning or Supervising the
Theft of Property
Felony Petit Theft with Two or More Priors
• Chelsea Fults-Paine W/F 05-28-1983 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Richard Alan Beckner W/M 08-27-1965 (DeBary)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Purchase Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Kevin Lee Moore W/M 12-28-1993
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Frederick Roy McDaniel III W/M 11-17-1988 (DeLand)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
The following are wanted as of this writing:
• Jarrick Lorenzo Ross B/M 05-01-1993 (Orange City)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Patrick Steven Daly W/M 03-17-1991 (DeLand)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (14 grams or more)
Delivery of Cocaine
Delivery of Buprenorphine
Delivery of Alprazolam
Conspiracy to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Introduce Contraband into a County Detention Facility
Introduction of Contraband into a County Detention Facility
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Robert Lee Yates W/M 07-25-1989 (Deltona)
Conspiracy to Traffic in Fentanyl (28 grams or more)
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Donald Lowell Lucas III W/M 08-20-1978 (DeLand - Sexual Predator)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Brian Keith Pitzer W/M 07-21-1970 (Deltona)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Possession of Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Jose Angel Gomez Jr (aka “Guido”) W/M 10-16-1978 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Solicitation to Deliver Cocaine
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
• Matthew Quinn Stomber W/M 02-01-1995 (Orange City)
Solicitation to Deliver Fentanyl
Conspiracy to Deliver Fentanyl
Unlawful Use of a Two Way Communications Device
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