Late last week, I reported that six West Point cadets on spring break in Florida overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine.
There has been an arrest made in connection to this horrific incident.
Florida cops have arrested an alleged drug dealer they say sold the fentanyl-laced cocaine to several West Point cadets who overdosed during a spring break trip this week.Axel Giovany Casseus, 21, was jailed Saturday in lieu of $50,000 bail, Local10 News reported.After identifying Casseus, an undercover police officer was successfully able to purchase 43 grams of cocaine from him for $1,000, according to an arrest report, the network reported.While in custody, Casseus admitted to selling drugs to the West Point cadets and his phone contained correspondence with them, authorities said.
Casseus faces felony charges as two of the six cadets remain in critical condition.
He was charged with one felony count of trafficking cocaine of less than 200 grams and is being held at the Broward Main Jail, with bail set at $50,000, according to The Sun-Sentinel.Police believe he is connected to six West Point cadets who were hospitalized Thursday after overdosing on the drug, which was laced with the powerful synthetic painkiller. At least two of the students were football players at the military academy, located in New York. A seventh individual was later taken to the hospital and treated, but it was unclear if she also overdosed.As of early Saturday morning, three remained in the hospital. Two were in critical condition and on ventilators. The other patient was said to be in stable condition. The victims have yet to be identified.
A break came in the case when the Broward County Sheriff’s Office was able to get a phone number for the dealer who allegedly sold drugs to the college kids at the Wilton Manors home.
The undercover detectives were able to then buy drugs from Casseus.“Yesterday, Casseus delivered us 43 grams of what we believe is cocaine in exchange for $1,000,” said Sgt. Ryan Hyatt with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.Shortly afterwards, the detectives followed him back to a hotel in Hollywood where he was taken into custody.The cocaine that was sold to the undercover detectives did not test for fentanyl in their preliminary tests.“If what was tested that you got from him showed fentanyl, then you’ve got connection. Without this, the connection is very tentative,” said the Judge Murphy.
Hopefully, this magnitude of the incident serves as a reminder that fentanyl has a very low lethal dose and that every single drug illegally obtained must be assumed to contain it.
There is significant risk that illegal drugs have been intentionally contaminated with fentanyl. Because of its potency and low cost, drug dealers have been mixing fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction.Producing illicit fentanyl is not an exact science. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage. DEA analysis has found counterfeit pills ranging from .02 to 5.1 milligrams (more than twice the lethal dose) of fentanyl per tablet.
- 42% of pills tested for fentanyl contained at least 2 mg of fentanyl, considered a potentially lethal dose.
- Drug trafficking organizations typically distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
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