80 drug-related arrests concludes LCSO Operation Zero Chill

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro
Published: Updated:
LCSO
Sheriff Marceno announcing results of Operation Zero Chill. CREDIT: WINK News

Working through the holidays to make sure no family has to deal with the tragic outcome of an overdose, that’s the primary goal of Operation Zero Chill from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Lee County deputies said the operation focuses on street and mid-level drug dealers.

With the Lee County Narcotics Unit in full gear behind Sheriff Carmine Marceno…

“Congratulations to the drug dealers. Your house is closed,” said Marceno.

LCSO
Sheriff Marceno announcing results of Operation Zero Chill. CREDIT: WINK News

Marceno and the team put what he calls “poison-dealing criminals” out of business.

Marceno topped the mission off by hammering a sign reading “THIS DRUG HOUSE CLOSED” into the ground.

Marceno said Thursday’s search warrant completed Operation Zero Chill, bringing multiple suspects into custody.

“I’ve tasked my incredible narcotics unit to do everything they can do to prevent a family from having a tragedy of an overdose during the holidays,” said Marceno.

While Operation Zero Chill didn’t come with a walk-up song like Operation Summer Sizzle, an operation that ended with 115 drug-related arrests, it did bring a cold snap of 80 arrests during the holiday season.

“The criminals who put poison in the hands of those suffering from addiction,” said Marceno.

And the confiscation of all kinds of drugs, guns and money.

“Detectives recovered over two kilos of cocaine, significant amounts of packaged narcotics ready for sale, including crack cocaine, meth, MDMA, oxycodone and over 20,000 various types of pills, 14 firearms and just under $100,000 of drug profit,” said Marceno.

The worst of the drugs authorities discovered was almost a kilo of fentanyl, enough to kill nearly 500,000 people.

Deaths, Marceno said that would be on the hands of the drug dealers, and he promises to charge them with murder.

“D-HIT, the drug homicide investigation team that I started in November ’23, is currently investigating 17 suspected overdose deaths, and we’re building criminal cases on these dealers who sold them drugs,” said Marceno.

All 17 of those investigations remain ongoing, and Marceno thanks the Drug Enforcement Agency, which played a huge role in the investigation.

Marceno’s message at the end of the presser was that one pill can kill, sit your kids down and have those conversations.

Seventy percent of pills on the street are laced with fentanyl.

Operation Zero Chill is over, but the sheriff’s mission to get drug dealers out of Lee County is an everyday battle.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.