Nassau County Sheriff’s Office arrests 54 people for 223 drug-related, criminal charges

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Operation Heavyweights, led by the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies, cracks down on dozens of drug dealers in Northeast Florida.

NCSO Sheriff Bill Leeper says, “during this operation, we’ve made 54 arrests: 25 were from Fernandina Beach; 11 from Yulee; five from Hilliard; five from Callahan; five from Georgia; two from Jacksonville, and one from Lake City.”

Multiple agencies collaborated to execute Operation Heavyweights, including NCSO, FBI, Fernandina Beach Police Department, ATF, DEA, and HIDTA, which is a website marking High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas.

The joint operation employed undercover agents, who were able to solicit drugs from people involved in criminal drug rings and narcotics distributors.

Collectively, the 54 people arrested had a history of 417 prior criminal convictions, and now the group is facing 223 new charges.

Below is a list, provider by Sheriff Leeper, of the illegal drugs, weapons, and assets seized by Operation Heavyweights:

- 380 lbs. of Marijuana and THC-concentrate products

- 6.5 lbs. of Meth

- 3 lbs. of Cocaine

- 9 oz. of Heroine

- 2 oz. of LSD

- 2 oz. of MDMA

- 300-plus Pills

- 25 Illegal Firearms

- 72,000 dollars in Assets

- 3.5 lbs. of Fentanyl

“This seizure that we made of 3.5 pounds of fentanyl has the potential to kill over 750 thousand people,” Leeper says. “This year alone NCSO has seized more than four pounds of fentanyl, which could potentially kill over one million people. That’s just in Nassau County alone.”

In the picture shown above, Leeper demonstrates how much Fentanyl it takes to kill a person, by dipping his fingertip into a 3.5 lb. box of flour, which is a visualization of the amount of Fentanyl seized by Operation Heavyweights.

The Fentanyl found in Nassau County is made in other countries and is being smuggled into Florida by way of Texas, according to Leeper.

He offers a bit of advice for those suffering from addiction, by saying if you are addicted, to go get help or you could lose your life to drugs like Fentanyl.

Leeper shares his support for the Nassau County community for voicing their concerns and pointing out drug-related hotspots.

“If you’re a poison-peddler, a drug dealer in Nassau County - We are coming after you,” Leeper says. “We are constantly conducting investigations as a result of citizens coming forward, and letting us know where these drug houses are so we can close them down.”

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