TAMPA, Fla. — A joint Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and Central Florida Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) investigation has led to the guilty pleas for seven Florida men for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and the distribution of methamphetamine.
Bradenton residents Clemente Betancourt, 28, Estevan Betancourt,19, Larry Lee Woodard, Jr., 29, Adonis Bonilla, 29, Omar Mejia, 29, Jesse Leahy, 48 and Alexander Perez, 30, each face a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. Sentencing dates have not yet been set.
According to court documents, between March 2022 and May 2023, these individuals engaged in a conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine in Bradenton and throughout Manatee County. In addition to the conspiracy charges, the individuals have also pleaded guilty to substantive charges on specific dates.
At the time of the arrests, a search warrant was executed at Clemente and Estevan Betancourt’s house in Bradenton. As a result of that search, three firearms, approximately one pound of methamphetamine, 22 cellphones, cocaine and marijuana were seized.
A joint OCEDTF, which includes HSI Tampa and FBI, investigated the case. The Central Florida Gulf Coast HIDTA, which includes the Bradenton Police Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the North Port Police Department, the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Palmetto Police Department, the Sarasota Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, also assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Guzman, David Sullivan and Suzanne Nebesky are prosecuting the case.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
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