The most and least common Florida federal crimes: Here are the drugs feds go after the most

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
·9 min read
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When it comes to federal crimes in Florida, drug trafficking is still No. 1.

In the latest report on federal sentencing statistics from the United States Sentencing Commission, drugs accounted for over a third (34%) of all 3,003 reported federal crimes in the state during fiscal year 2022, higher than the national average of 31.5%. Florida also ranked higher than the national average in fraud, child sexual abuse material, sexual abuse, robbery and money laundering, but lower in illegal immigration and federal firearm crimes.

But the most common illegal drug in Florida's federal cases may not be what you think.

Cocaine is king in Florida

While fentanyl and other opioids are a rapidly growing, fatal danger here and across the nation, powder cocaine is by far the primary drug involved in federal drug cases in Florida, the report says.

Nationwide, the most common one is methamphetamine, 48.5% of the total drugs involved. But in the Sunshine State powder cocaine accounted for 51.4% of the federal cases, while meth was 25.3%. Fentanyl was involved in 8.2%. Note that these are cases where the federal government was involved and may not include local busts.

This year Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that increased the penalties and mandatory minimum sentence for anyone selling or distributing opioids such as fentanyl. The new law also adds meth to the controlled substance list, which means if use of the drug results in death, the person who sold or distributed it can be charged with first-degree felony murder.

Rounding out the rest of the primary drugs in federal trafficking crime was heroin (3.9%), marijuana (3.7%), crack cocaine (2.8%) and other (4.8%).

Florida is harder on federal criminals

In nearly all the federal drug cases in Florida (96.7%), the accused accepted a plea deal. Only 3.3% went to trial. 96.4% of them got prison time and generally received longer sentences. The national mean average for prison time for federal drug trafficking in 2022 was 78 months, but in Florida, it was 93 months.

For that matter, most federal criminals received more time in Florida than elsewhere. The national mean average for all federal sentences was 51 months, while in Florida the average was 69 months.

TO REPORT A FEDERAL DRUG CRIME: If you witness an event that is an immediate threat to human health or safety, contact 911 immediately. To submit a tip on illegal drug trafficking, you can:

Next highest federal crime in Florida: fraud, theft, embezzlement

According to the report, 20.2% of the federal crimes in Florida involved someone getting ripped off, much higher than the national average of 8.6%.

Floridians are a popular target for scammers. According to a report from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released earlier this year, Florida residents lost nearly $845 million from scams in 2022, the second-highest amount in the country after California.

Phishing remains far and away the most common online crime, affecting 300,497 victims in the U.S. and scamming them out of just over $52 million. But in 2022, most of the money taken from Floridians was through cryptocurrency scams and investment fraud, accounting for $3.31 billion and up 127% over 2021, the IC3 said.

TO REPORT A CRIME INVOLVING FRAUD:

Florida's federal immigration crime below national averages

Even before Gov. Ron DeSantis cracked down on illegal immigration this year with tougher penalties and new restrictions on undocumented immigrants in Florida with what's been called the harshest anti-immigration measure in the country, federal immigration cases were far below the national average.

Immigration accounted for 13.9% of all federal crime in the state, 416 cases, the third highest after drugs and fraud but well below the 27.5% average across the country.

This year the number of asylum seekers at the borders have gone down, and officials credit U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s new CBP One app for smartphones and other border policies as key reasons, although migrant and human rights advocates note that other factors – including coils of razor wire along the Texas banks of the Rio Grande, which has triggered a federal lawsuit against the state – could also be playing a role.

In July, as undocumented workers try to decide whether to leave their lives and jobs in Florida or not, the Farm Worker Association of Florida sued in federal court to block the state’s strict new immigration law, which DeSantis is now using as a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

TO REPORT AN IMMIGRATION VIOLATION: Immigration violations include criminal acts, visa violations, or public safety threats. Again, if danger is imminent contact 911 and your local law enforcement.

Otherwise, call the ICE Homeland Security Investigations Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or use the online tip form.

Florida higher in federal sexual abuse, child pornography

Sexual abuse was involved in 2.3% of all national federal crimes in fiscal 2022 and 2.2% involved child sexual abuse material, also called CSAM, according to the USSC report. In Florida, sexual abuse accounted for 3.8% of the total. Crimes involving CSAM were just over the national total, with 2.6%.

Sexual abuse and CSAM are a problem in Florida and not just a federal one. In 2021, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit's third study on the "Status of Girls" in Florida found "rampant victimization," with one in five girls having considered suicide and one in 10 having been raped.

A USA TODAY Network-Florida investigation last year found that Florida media reported on 279 different cases of educator sexual abuse of a student between 2014 and 2021, according to anti-abuse nonprofit Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation, or S.E.S.A.M.E., but only 59 Title IX complaints for sexual harassment or abuse in Florida were filed with the U.S. Department of Education between 2012 and 2022.

This year, DeSantis signed a bill making child rape subject to the death penalty, defying a United States Supreme Court ruling barring states from doing so when the crime does not involve a child's death.

"In Florida, we stand for the protection of children," DeSantis said. "We think that in the worst of the worst cases the only appropriate punishment is the ultimate punishment."

Meanwhile, incidents of CSAM bring new headlines nearly every day as smartphones make it much easier to produce, distribute and possess images of children that have been sexually abused or exploited. Operations coordinated between the FBI and local law enforcement continue to net dozens of men.

"The amount of child sex abuse material online has skyrocketed in the past five years, aided by the ubiquity of smartphones and the COVID-19 pandemic," said Teresa Huizar, CEO of National Children's Alliance." "According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, monthly reports of such material doubled from about 1 million in March 2019 to 2 million a year later. Reports increased by an additional 35% from 2020 to 2021."

In March 2022 a years-long undercover FBI investigation involved 50 people across Florida, including two Florida State University students. In individual investigations, a Lake Worth man got 20 years in prison, a Fort Pierce man got 25 years, a man in Stuart got 37, and a 32-year-old Shalimar man was sentenced to 70 years in federal prison for using an app to distribute images of CSAM that he was creating “in real time.”

TO REPORT SEXUAL ABUSE OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN: If you or someone else is in immediate danger call 911.

Florida lower in federal firearm crime than national average

Federal firearm crimes include unauthorized importing or selling firearms across state lines, selling prohibited categories of weapons such as bombs, rockets and mines, importing or selling stolen firearms, lying on applications to buy a firearm, possessing, carrying or discharging a firearm in a federal facility or school (except as authorized by law), possession of a firearm by someone prohibited from having one such as a convicted felon, an undocumented immigrant, a person under a domestic violence restraining order, or a minor, or use of a firearm while committing a federal crime.

Here. Florida is below average. Federal firearm crimes accounted for 12.5% of all federal crimes in 2022, compared to the national 14.5%.

As of July 1, Floridians may carry concealed weapons without background checks, training or a concealed license.

TO REPORT A FEDERAL FIREARMS CRIME:

Anonymous tips may be submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) through the ReportIt mobile app, available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, or by visiting reportit.com. The app allows users to submit tips about crimes that involve firearms, violent crime, explosives and arson.

You also can call the illegal firearms hotline, 800-ATF-GUNS (800-283-4867); the firearms theft hotline, 888-930-9275; the bomb hotline, 888-ATF-BOMB (888-283-2662); the explosives theft or loss hotline, 800-461-8841; or the hotline for other federal crimes involving alcohol, tobacco, firearms or explosives, 888-283-8477.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida federal drug cases above U.S. average but fentanyl isn't why