How cocaine bought in Hockessin led to overdoses and dismantling of drug trafficking group

What started off as an investigation into two people overdosing in Pennsylvania has led to five federal indictments connected to a multi-state drug operation that prosecutors say took cocaine and fentanyl from the Bronx, New York, and brought it to Delaware.

Some of the transactions would occur in popular spots, unbeknownst to business owners, such as the parking lots of Walgreens and Capers & Lemons restaurant, said U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss at a Tuesday press conference. Drugs would also be stashed in the woods of Delaware and Maryland.

"The thought was that this case illustrates some of the dangers inherent in today's drug trade," Weiss said. "Drugs like fentanyl and xylazine have dramatically increased these risks. This is borne out by the data."

Rates of overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased by more than 56% from 2019 to 2020, according to the most recent data available.

There were more than 100,000 overdose deaths nationally in 2021 and more than 500 overdose deaths in Delaware. Most of these deaths are attributable to fentanyl, Weiss said.

More:What a fentanyl court sentencing and new outreach campaign tell us about the opioid crisis

Weiss, who was flanked by federal, state and local law enforcement, provided some details at the press conference in Wilmington about five men who were each indicted on one count of drug conspiracy — a crime that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. He also showed enlarged photographs of drugs found stashed in woods and a New York Hazardous Materials Team searching a house where some of these drugs were stored and packaged.

"It seems like we're almost becoming numb to this disturbing trend," Weiss said. "The idea was that these pictures might bring home just how dangerous the drug trade has become."

Cocaine in Hockessin, cardiac arrest in Kennett Township

The case was born on Nov. 14, when Kennett Township, Pennsylvania, police were called to a home for a report of a 50-year-old woman in cardiac arrest.

Arriving officers found a woman and man there.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the woman was on the dining room floor, unresponsive and cold to the touch. The man, who was found on a hallway floor and struggling to breathe, was given the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, but the man survived and was taken to an area hospital.

The man, who was interviewed by officers, said the woman met her cocaine source the night before at a Walgreens in Hockessin, according to a court document obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. That's where she purchased $50 worth of cocaine.

More:'Rainbow fentanyl' and Narcan in schools: What you need to know about illicit fentanyl

After buying the cocaine, the man told officers she picked him up at a Wawa. As they traveled to the home in Kennett Township, the man told police he snorted some of the drugs.

"He immediately lost movements in his legs," according to the court document.

The woman also snorted cocaine after arriving at the house, where she too fell ill.

Investigators searching the woman's phone found a series of calls made to a cellphone on Nov. 13 — the night she purchased the drugs.

The calls were followed by a text to the surviving man: "Hey I'm at (Route) 48 he's stopping up very soon," the court documents state. The surviving man then called the woman.

Investigation expands into multiple states

Investigators met with a confidential source on Nov. 22 and had that person call the same cellphone number the woman had called the week before.

After a man speaking Spanish answered the call, the confidential source asked for $50 worth of drugs.

The Spanish-speaking man instructed the confidential source to go to a Walgreens in Hockessin in 20 minutes, where he could buy the cocaine. It was during the call investigators learned the caller was located in the Bronx, according to the court document.

The confidential source, who was being watched by law enforcement, made his way to the Walgreens where he met up with a person in a Honda Civic who was already there.

The Civic operator tossed a small bag of drugs through the window of the confidential source's car, according to the court document. The confidential source then tossed $50 into the Civic.

The two then left the Walgreen's parking lot.

Investigators identified the Civic's driver and from November through January conducted physical and electronic surveillance.

It was during this time, according to court documents, that investigators began identifying others involved in the operation. This includes one man who traveled from different New York locations to different locations in Delaware, where he would meet with others involved in the drug operation.

Investigators believe this man was the Spanish-speaking person at the other end of the phone both the woman and the confidential source had called. A review of this man's phone records and location data showed that he traveled to Delaware 22 times between July 1 through Nov. 21.

It was during these trips that investigators said the man would coordinate drug transactions with others involved in the operation, as well as with customers.

After several days inside a Bronx home, where investigators said drugs were processed and packaged, the man and another placed a duffle bag in a Toyota 4Runner and drove to Delaware on Jan. 16.

A stop in Greenville ends in arrests and searches

Their first stop in Delaware was in the parking lot of Capers & Lemons restaurant in Greenville.

The Italian restaurant is about a mile away from a densely wooded area off West Rolling Mill Road that was used to stash their drugs, Weiss said. There, the drugs, which were buried, were also labeled so the Delaware coconspirators would know what to pick up and take to their customers.

But on the morning of Jan. 16, investigators said officers stopped the men in the 4Runner as they met with another member of the operation. Officers confiscated:

• more than 2 pounds of suspected crack cocaine laced with fentanyl

• more than 2 pounds of suspected fentanyl

• about $50,000

Armed with search warrants, investigators began searching different locations in New York, Delaware and Maryland. A hazmat team was called in to conduct a search of a Bronx residence because the structure was deemed unsafe for entry due to the amount of fentanyl and cocaine that had been cooked, mixed and processed there.

During the search of the Bronx residence, investigators found about 26 pounds of fentanyl and more than 2 pounds of xylazine, which is a potent horse and cattle tranquilizer not approved for human use. The drug is being linked to an increasing number of overdose deaths nationwide, investigators said.

Also found in the Bronx residence was cocaine, cooking materials, cutting agents, gas masks, a kilogram press, money counters and an additional $31,000.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware drug arrest leads to dismantling of multi-state operation