- April 18, 2024
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Authorities have seized $1.4 million worth of synthetic marijuana and arrested 11 Flagler and St. Johns County residents, including a Bunnell man they say produced and sold the drug through convenience stores where it has been marked as “organic potpourri.”’
But it’s not potpourri and it’s not pot, officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon at the Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell.
“Unfortunately the name is not portraying what exactly this type of drug is,” State Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Assistant Chief Frank Franco said. “This drug is probably one of the most dangerous ones out there on the street right now.”
The investigation, called Operation Bad Dreamer, began in February after officials tracked a St. Augustine resident, Mark Hayley Dickinson, 50, moving cigarettes illegally from Georgia to Florida without paying taxes on them. When they started investigating Dickinson, they found he was tied to a network of Floridians manufacturing and selling synthetic marijuana.
The operation took months of work by dozens of law enforcement officers from Florida’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco; U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency; the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; the Palatka and St. Augustine police departments; and the Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam sheriff’s offices.
Officers set up undercover buys before Friday’s arrests, then burst into a lab and seized more than 1,400 packets full of the drug and another 160,000 packets that hadn’t been filled yet. More than 80 law enforcement officers executed the 13 search warrants and 11 arrest warrants issued for the operation.
One of the men arrested was 42-year-old Bunnell resident Carlos Fernando Ramos Dasilva, who lives on County Road 304. Dasilva and four others charged after the raid face up to 60 years in prison on racketeering charges under the RICO Act.
A misnomer
Synthetic marijuana isn’t marijuana at all, but blends of herbs dried and sprayed with chemicals. The mixes vary, and the conditions in which the drug is manufactured can be filthy, officials said.
“This name, 'synthetic marijuana,' is a misnomer,” said St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Joel Bolante. “I have never seen anyone who used marijuana behave the way some of these folks that are high behave.”
The chemicals sprayed on the herbs cost more than the herbs themsleves, officials said. The chemicals are from abroad, usually from Asia. Officials aren’t yet sure where the chemicals used to make the batch of drugs they seized were produced.
Flagler County Sheriff James Manfre said the drug’s brightly colored, cartoonish packaging masks its dark side. “This type of operation is something that’s paralyzing the youth of today,” he said.
Charges
Authorities say Operation Bad Dreamer is still ongoing and may lead to more arrests.
The drugs manufactured by the 11 people arrested so far were also sold in Georgia and California, but none of them have been charged in those states, officials said.
Five of the 11 have been charged with violating state racketeering laws under the RICO Act and face up to 60 years in prison if convicted, and many have been charged with multiple counts of the same crime.
The individuals arrested are as follows:
Mark Hayley Dickinson, 50 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with continuing criminal enterprise, RICO, conspiracy to commit RICO, sale of a controlled substance, sale of felony drug paraphernalia, leasing and maintaining a location for the manufacturing of a controlled substance, no tobacco distributor’s license, tobacco tax evasion and sale of smoking pipes/devices without a permit;
Kellie Ann Barnette, 42 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with RICO, conspiracy to commit RICO, sale of a controlled substance and sale of felony drug paraphernalia;
Alexis Perez, 48 and a resident of Jacksonville, charged with RICO, conspiracy to commit RICO and sale of a controlled substance;
Samantha Rennee Davis, 32 and a former resident of St. John’s County now residing in Dothan, Ala., charged with RICO, conspiracy to commit RICO, felony delivery of drug paraphernalia and sale of a controlled substance;
Carlos Fernando Ramos Dasilva, 42 and a resident of Bunnell, charged with RICO, conspiracy to commit RICO, felony delivery or drug paraphernalia, sale of a controlled substance and leasing and maintaining a location for the manufacturing of a controlled substance;
Robert Clark Nicholson, 23 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with sale of a controlled substance and felony delivery of drug paraphernalia;
Edward Robert Mims, 55 and a resident of St. Johns, charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute;
John Abdal, 38 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and sale of a controlled substance;
Martha Ellen Welzant, 51 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with sale of a controlled substance, sale of imitation controlled substance and felony delivery of drug paraphernalia;
Ajay D. Patel, 47 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with sale of a controlled substance;
Sheetal Ajay Patel, 39 and a resident of St. Augustine, charged with sale of a controlled substance.
