Sheriff Carmine Marceno

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office seized nearly a kilo (2.205 pounds) of cocaine, more than a kilo of meth, and a half kilo of fentanyl totaling more than $100,000, resulting in the arrest of 52 individuals.

At a press conference on Thursday, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said hundreds of hours of investigations, dubbed operation “double booked,” were put into the bust over the past few months. Marceno said several warrants are still out for the arrest of individuals liked to drug dealing and are “actively being hunted.”

“These idiots are no stranger to law enforcement,”Marceno said. “Combined, they have over 800 arrests, many for violent felonies including carjacking, kidnapping, racketeering – and that’s only in Lee County.”

Marceno praised the narcotics unit, which recently doubled in size. Marceno said since the beginning of the year, not including patrol stops, there have been 95 arrests relating to narcotics. These 52 arrests came via a string of busts over the last four days, he said.

“If you choose to deal drugs in Lee County we will hunt you, we will catch you, and we will throw (you) in jail,” Marceno said.