Posted on 06/15/2007 6:35:48 AM PDT by DocRock
A task force followed leads from Polk deputy killer Angilo Freeland.
LAKELAND - A multi-agency law enforcement task force has arrested 19 people in Hernando and Orange counties who were connected with deputy killer Angilo Freeland in a "street level" drug trafficking operation, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
Freeland helped supply cocaine, marijuana and firearms and was the operation's "assassin," killing up to 15 people who might have been informers or owed money, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a Thursday news conference.
"He was pure evil in the flesh," Judd said. Freeland killed some people in Latin America, Judd said, and the task force is investigating whether he killed any of them in Florida.
The victims' names were not released Thursday.
"There are chapters to this we're not discussing," Judd said.
Freeland is the 27-year-old man deputies say shot and killed Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Williams and his police dog Diogi and wounded sheriff's Deputy Doug Speirs in September following a traffic stop in Lakeland.
He was killed by a SWAT team of deputies from different counties the day afterWilliams was killed.
Tampa lawyer Grady C. Irvin Jr., who represents Freeland's family, said Thursday he didn't want to comment on the findings against Freeland.
"I represent the decedent's family and that's where my focus is," Irvin said.
The slew of drug arrests came after an Oct. 6 meeting between 10 area law enforcement agencies that started "Operation Sea-O-Pea" (COP).
In January, detectives tapped a cell phone belonging to 29-year-old Jason Parker in Orlando, said Steve Collins, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Orlando.
Undercover Orange County sheriff's deputies bought drugs from Parker and other dealers in the area, Collins said.
On March 15, 100 law enforcement officers surrounded Tildenville, a small Orlando community, where Parker and 11 drug dealers were arrested, Collins said.
"This operation has been paralyzed," he said.
In Hernando County, Bobby "Benny the Bug" Walter was a top dealer in Brooksville and had a group of dealers under him, Hernando County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Maurer said Thursday.
Hernando's side of the investigation was nearly compromised when two county clerk of the court employees gave away the identity of an undercover officer to people they knew were involved in the drug operation, Maurer said.
When the undercover officer's name and home address were released, people within the drug operation were following him home and had him under surveillance, Maurer said. "This was very disturbing," Maurer said after the news conference. "The officer and his family had to relocate."
The two female employees were arrested and charged with criminal disclosure of order or operation, a third-degree felony, Maurer said.
Walter and six others connected with Freeland were arrested.
The search doesn't end here, Judd said.
A handful of people in Florida and overseas have yet to be arrested, Judd said, but he declined to identify them.
When he discovered Deputy Williams had been shot dead, Judd said he made a vow on live television to take down Freeland's associates.
"Matt Williams did everything right for the right reasons. He would be proud of this."
Gabrielle Finley can be reached at 802-7590 or gabrielle.finley@theledger.com
Caught this this morning in The Ledger. (a NYT nespaper) Investigation is far and wide....and, not over!
nespaper = newspaper
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